Langara journalism students attended the Jan. 18 Vancouver Police Board meeting When I'm not searching for the truth, or driving my sports-crazy kids around the Lower Mainland -- or deciding whether my tea of the day should be "super green matcha" or turmeric and ginger - I sometimes impart my semi-mad journalism skills on Langara College students. And sometimes, like last Thursday, those students join me on the job. We attended a Vancouver Police Board meeting, where we heard Insp. Bill Spearn of the VPD's major crime section tell us that overdose deaths in the city are still at a crisis level - at least 335 people are suspected of dying in 2017, with more than 80 per cent of the deaths connected to fentanyl. [continues 598 words]
New government rules set 19 as minimum age to buy marijuana The provincial government announced Tuesday that the BC Liquor Distribution Branch will be the wholesale distributor of non-medical cannabis once the federal government legalizes marijuana in July 2018. The policy move by the government is in addition to new rules that state buyers and consumers of recreational marijuana must be at least 19 years old, which is consistent with current laws related to alcohol and tobacco. Mike Farnworth, the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, spoke to reporters in a conference call but would not say specifically where consumers will be able to legally buy marijuana under the new rules. [continues 542 words]
I've got to say that in my years of covering city hall, I've never seen Mayor Gregor Robertson cry. He almost did Wednesday. He shifted in his chair in council chambers, made one of those faces people make before the tears roll, then paused mid-sentence. "There's a loss of hopeĀ " The mayor was referring to the drug overdose crisis and the mounting death toll. He had just heard from city staff that 216 people in Vancouver this year have died of a suspected overdose. [continues 780 words]
Officer used the nasal spray form of the drug inside Rogers Arena A Vancouver police officer working at a Vancouver Canucks hockey game has become the first member of the department to use the overdose-reversing drug naloxone on an overdose victim. Staff Sgt. Bill Spearn of the VPD's organized crime section said the officer was working with a partner Dec. 28 at a Canucks game at Rogers Arena and noticed a commotion outside one of the gates involving a man who collapsed on the ground. [continues 755 words]
t's always nice to hear from the person in charge when you have questions about what he or she is going to do to address a problem affecting a large number of people. You may not always like the answers - or get a straight answer, for that matter - but still, it's something, right? That person in charge: Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott The problem - more of an epidemic, really: the overdose death crisis that killed 922 people in 2016, not the widely reported 914 as yours truly and others have written for more than a month. (Toxicology test results of suspected drug overdose victims continue to confirm more bad news.) [continues 526 words]
The B.C. government owns more than 25 low-income hotels in community hit hardest by overdose drug deaths Mayor Gregor Robertson is calling on the provincial government to set up drug injection rooms in all of the single-room-occupancy hotels it owns in the Downtown Eastside as another measure to prevent people from dying of a drug overdose. The provincial government owns more than 25 hotels in the Downtown Eastside, where people are dying at an alarming rate of overdoses largely linked to the deadly synthetic narcotic fentanyl. [continues 985 words]
City has issued 854 tickets to pot shop operators More than 50 illegal marijuana dispensaries continue to operate in Vancouver despite the city issuing 854 tickets to owners who refuse to close their doors, according to new statistics provided to the Courier this week. The city has also filed 27 injunctions in court in an effort to shut down some of the 54 premises, which are operating without a business licence. The tickets are worth $250 each and, in some cases, were issued multiple times to a dispensary. [continues 1020 words]
Former Mixed-martial Arts Fighter, Ex-College Basketball Player Among Directors Of Marijuana Dispensary A personal trainer, an entrepreneur and a recent kinesiology grad are the three partners behind the city's first illegal marijuana dispensary to receive a business licence. Jesse Charn Rice-Jones, Harkrishan Singh Sidhu and Bradley James Quevillon are directors of Wealthshop Social Society, which plans to open the Wealth Shop retail dispensary next week at suite 104-4545 West 10th Ave in Point Grey. The trio hoped to keep a low profile before opening the shop but understood there would be media interest in learning more about the operators behind the city's first licensed dispensary. [continues 837 words]
The City of Vancouver issued Monday the first-ever business licence for a pot shop in the city's history to operators of a marijuana dispensary that will soon open on West 10th Avenue in Point Grey. Wealth Shop Society at suite 104-4545 West 10th Ave, which shares a parking lot with Safeway and in a complex that includes a law office, dentist and veterinarian, is a new retail dispensary and did not have an existing location in Vancouver. As of Tuesday, it had not opened for business but had set up a website that gave some insight into how it would operate. [continues 472 words]
Thought I'd give you a little more insight into the illegal marijuana dispensary revolution/battle/gong show playing out in this town. I'll focus on one block of Commercial Drive, from East 13th to East 14th. Along that stretch is the B.C. Pain Society (at East 13th and Commercial), the B.C. Compassion Club (southwest corner of East 14th and Commercial) and Stratford Hall private school (southeast corner of East 14th and Commercial). They are so close to each other that if staff from each place stood out on their sidewalks, they could wave to each other. But this trio of neighbours is not exactly chummy. [continues 709 words]
The city's push to issue business licences to illegal marijuana dispensaries got more complicated over the weekend as 23 pot shops were ticketed for defying an order to close their doors while another 22 abided by the city's deadline to shut down. To date, the city has issued 44 tickets, including 21 to three separate shops that did not participate in the city's new regulation scheme. Andreea Toma, the city's chief licensing inspector, said the city will continue enforcement this week and expects to issue more $250 tickets to pot shops that refused to shut their doors last Friday. Toma said additional tickets will be issued to those shops targeted over the weekend. [continues 565 words]
The oldest medicinal marijuana dispensary in Vancouver cleared a big hurdle Wednesday in its battle to keep its doors open for its 6,000 members and continue operating on Commercial Drive. The B.C. Compassion Club, which was founded in 1997 and moved to Commercial Drive in 1998, won its appeal Wednesday from the Board of Variance, overturning an earlier decision by the city that ruled the dispensary was too close to two schools to operate under the city's new regulations for pot shops. [continues 988 words]
Organizer of today's 4-20 protest at Sunset Beach predicts bigger events when pot legalized An organizer of today's 4-20 marijuana protest at Sunset Beach is welcoming the news that Canada's health minister announced that the Trudeau government will introduce legislation next spring to legalize marijuana. But Dana Larsen, who is a director of a non-profit that runs two marijuana dispensaries in Vancouver, said the public shouldn't expect the government's move will spell an end to the annual 4-20 events in Vancouver. [continues 454 words]
April Is Always a Big Month for Marijuana Enthusiasts. It's, of course, the month where pot smokers and "potificators" (my word) assemble by the hundreds on the fourth month of the year on the 20th day to smoke a joint or three. Yep, it's almost 4-20, folks. This year, it will be at Sunset Beach. You probably heard that park board chairperson Sarah Kirby-Yung wasn't exactly happy with Mayor Gregor Robertson and city staff for giving organizers the (oh, the puns) green light. [continues 541 words]
Yep, this is about to happen... I'm going to knock out 650 words on the city's board of variance. No, my editor isn't punishing me. And, no, I didn't lose a bet. I just thought you might want to know what the heck this board does because it will likely be in the news from now until at least November. Why? One word: Marijuana. From Feb. 17 until Nov. 16, the board of variance will hold separate hearings for 62 owners of illegal marijuana dispensaries whose development permit applications were rejected by the city. [continues 601 words]
Small southeastern B.C. town first in Canada to issue a business licence to an illegal marijuana dispensary For almost a year now, the City of Vancouver has said that when it eventually issues a business licence to an illegal marijuana dispensary, it will be the first municipality in Canada to do so. That history, according to city officials, could be made as early as the spring. Except the city has either forgotten or wasn't aware what occurred in Kimberley last summer: the small southeastern B.C. town's council unanimously agreed to give Tamarack Dispensaries a business licence. [continues 861 words]
Vancouver Coastal Health is pushing ahead with a plan to provide more supervised drug injection sites in the city and open them in existing community health centres. Dr. Patricia Daly, chief medical health officer for the health authority, said the plan is in its early stages and involves examining which health centres have the greatest need for the service. "If we put in another application [to Health Canada], it will be for more than one site," Daly told the Courier by telephone this week. "It wouldn't be for 10, but it would probably be for a handful of sites to start with. We've got a few that we're considering but I don't want to publicly say them right now." [continues 627 words]
The City of Vancouver is still a few months away from making Canadian history by being the first municipality in this country to issue a business licence to an illegal marijuana dispensary, according to the city's chief licence inspector. That's because city staff continues to sort through applications, collect feedback from neighbours of pot shops and wait for results of appeals by applicants initially rejected under the new regulations. Many dispensary operators are also looking for or found new locations for their businesses, said Andreaa Toma, who is overseeing the regulations brought in by city council in June 2015. [continues 749 words]
Imagine the B.C. government going out on its own and creating a system within the province that taxes and regulates the use of recreational marijuana, without approval from the federal government. That's a thought that came up in conversation with Tonia Winchester of Seattle who helped lead the campaign in 2012 to have marijuana legalized in Washington State. As the outreach director for New Approach Washington, the former prosecutor was a member of a coalition of citizens that fought successfully to allow adults 21 and over to legally possess up to one ounce of marijuana for personal use. [continues 827 words]
Some of you may have read my story this week about the City of Vancouver hosting private sessions for current and potential pot shop operators on how to "successfully" obtain a business licence for the illegal dispensaries. I know, it seems contradictory doesn't it - a legal business licence for an illegal activity. But that's for the federal government to sort out as city staff embarks on its bold plan to have Vancouver become the first municipality in Canada to regulate the growing number of marijuana dispensaries. [continues 537 words]
