As a former Toronto police chief, Liberal MP Bill Blair said he understands how the federal government's legislation legalizing marijuana consumption for recreational use affects municipalities. Blair, Ottawa's point person on the pot file, was in the Tri-Cities this week, meeting with mayors and councillors, he said, to ensure cities have the tools and information ahead of the regulation changes coming next summer. "I recognize the important roles that mayors, councillors and local police officers have to make this thing work," he said in an interview Monday with The Tri-City News at Port Coquitlam city hall. "They have a big job to do here and we want to make sure they have the support they need that is required at the local level in order to make sure that this works in this community." [continues 345 words]
A Port Coquitlam homeowner said he intends to sue the municipality after his appeal of a $12,000 controlled substance property declaration was denied by council on Monday. Harvey Douglas, who owns a Mary Hill Road home with his two sons, told The Tri-City News on Wednesday that he is being unfairly penalized. He said there is no evidence the home he rented out was used for the production or sale of drugs and that the charge imposed on him should be waived. [continues 665 words]
No Charges for Tenant but Big Fine for Landlord The owners of a Port Coquitlam home have been slapped with a $12,000 fine after receiving a controlled substance property declaration, despite the fact that there was no marijuana grow operation in the rental house. PoCo council voted against reducing the charge after the Mary Hill Road homeowners appealed the decision, asking that the fee be waived. They stated in a letter to the city that the tenants who were renting the home when it was raided by police last winter were never charged with a criminal offence and there was no evidence of controlled substances being found on the property. [continues 733 words]
An organization dedicated to the decriminalization of marijuana will be seeking volunteer canvassers at an event in Port Coquitlam next week as it prepares for a marijuana referendum campaign this fall. Sensible BC needs 50 to 60 volunteers in each of B.C.'s 85 constituencies to collect signatures this fall in order to pressure the provincial government to hold a referendum on the Sensible Policing Act. The legislation, written by supporters of Sensible BC, would essentially stop police from searching or arresting people for possession of marijuana and would call on Ottawa to repeal marijuana prohibition. [continues 232 words]
Residents, Mayor Agree But The Feds Make Weed Rules A group of Citadel Heights residents want the city of Port Coquitlam to intervene and stop a licensed marijuana grow operation in a home in their neighbourhood. Doug McRae, who lives in the area, said residents surrounding the house are scared that the neighbourhood could be a target for criminal activity, putting other homeowners in danger. "Think about a house or grow op being raided by gun-carrying criminals," he told council during Monday night's meeting. "That is what the people in Governor Court and Royal Court are living with everyday." [continues 328 words]
Medicinal marijuana users in the Tri-Cities will no longer have to travel to dispensaries in Vancouver to buy their bud. Coquitlam Natural Path Society opened a facility in Maillardville and has been selling marijuana to licensed users since last Wednesday. Christopher MacLeod, the operator of the shop, said the location (931 Brunette Ave.) will make it easier for people, who often suffer from chronic pain, to access their medication. "The stigma is starting to dissipate," he said. "I have been very surprised at how the local community has been." [continues 299 words]
Police and social workers in the Tri-Cities are encouraging adults to talk to their kids about drugs in light of several recent deaths in B.C. associated to a bad batch of ecstasy. Newsletters have been sent out to schools across the region outlining the short- and long-term effects the drug can have on young people. Coquitlam RCMP Cpl. Jamie Chung said that while no deaths have been confirmed in relation to ecstasy in Coquitlam or Port Coquitlam, it is important to let students know some of the dangers involved in taking drugs. [continues 285 words]
Corrections officers at North Fraser Pretrial Centre are investigating after an inmate died in custody Friday night. Dean Purdy, a spokesperson for the corrections officer component of the BCGEU, said a staff member noticed an inmate who appeared to be in distress. An ambulance was called and the inmate was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead. While BC Corrections officials could not confirm the cause of death, Purdy said that illicit drugs are easily available to inmates in many of the province's correctional facilities. "We do know that contraband and drugs in our corrections centres is an ongoing problem," he said. "All anecdotal evidence that we have received from our members is that drugs are present at the centre." [end]
An appeals court decision striking down Surrey's municipal grow op detection program could pave the way for a class-action lawsuit involving the city of Coquitlam. Randy Manzardo, a Tri-City resident and business owner who has signed on with the lawsuit, said he expects the recent court decision to bode well for his case against the city, the RCMP and BC Hydro. The B.C. Court of Appeals found that Surrey's grow op program, which allowed police and city officials to visit homes with unusually high power consumption, violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The program is similar to one in the city of Coquitlam, which Manzardo said unfairly targeted his home. [continues 347 words]
Subsidized housing intended for recovered addicts and alcoholics is being put on hold after people in Port Coquitlam's Lincoln Park area opposed the residence being located in their neighbourhood. Rumours circulated that the society intended to put a drug and alcohol recovery house in the neighbourhood. During a council meeting Monday, one man speaking as a delegation said he wanted to stop what he called a safe injection site from coming to the area. But according to Hope For Freedom Society managing director Rob Thiessen, many of the Lincoln Park residents are misinformed. His organization was planning to locate subsidized housing in a rented home in the Lincoln neighbourhood for former society clients, some of whom have not touched drugs or alcohol in over four years, he said. [continues 313 words]
More than half the homes investigated by Port Coquitlam's new Public Safety Inspection Team have shown evidence of marijuana grow operations. The team is the result of amendments to the B.C. Safety Standards Act that allow BC Hydro to release electricity consumption rates to city officials. Those homes with unusually high rates can expect a visit from the city. Since PoCo assembled its team in January, it has knocked on 20 doors and "we have found a little more than half of those [residents] had had controlled substances on the premises," said the city's manager of bylaw services, Dan Scoones. [continues 364 words]
Vancouver Agreement Hits Five-Year Mark; City Council Pushes For More Innovation Vancouver's Downtown Eastside has come a long way since the Vancouver Agreement promised to clean up the neighbourhood's drug-infested streets five years ago. But take one look at the area and it's obvious: there's still a long way to go. The urban revitalisation project, which was jointly funded by the city, the province, and the federal government, expired March 9. On Tuesday, city council pledged to continue funding for another five years. [continues 572 words]
