Police cite parents' concerns over health and safety Nanaimo Mounties have closed a marijuana dispensary that opened next door to a children's daycare centre. Leaf Labs Medical Cannabis Services, at 679 Terminal Ave., was shut down Monday, three days after it opened, when police checked the business and allegedly observed evidence they believe contravened Canada's Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. The dispensary was closed and secured until a search warrant was granted to search the premises.Police seized about 0.7 kilograms of marijuana. [continues 347 words]
DRIVING to work the other morning, I passed the grow-op up the street from my house. It's about 100 metres from an elementary school and when it vents, it stinks. In fact, the interior of my car still reeked when I arrived at the office 15 minutes after driving through that cloud and it really annoyed me to think the guy who stunk up my car likely has a more lucrative income than I do and probably most of people reading this. [continues 463 words]
Nanaimo Economic Development Corporation has released an analysis of Tilray's impact on the local economy in the medical marijuana grower's first year of operation. The 14-page report, presented Wednesday at SquareOne co-working space, examined Tilray's impact on the region since the start of construction and operation of its 5,600-square-metre research and production facility. It also offered economic predictions from Tilray's proposed operations and workforce expansion. The company currently employs 120 people in Nanaimo and is on track with its expansion to become the No. 1 employer in the Nanaimo region, Sasha Angus, NEDC CEO, said at the presentation. [continues 321 words]
Residents and business owners in Nanaimo's north end have to fend for themselves when it comes to picking up discarded drug paraphernalia. The problem came to light recently when staff at Delicado's North, located at the corner of Aulds Road and Metral Drive, were getting ready to open for the day. Ashley Thorp, a restaurant employee, responded to an anxious knocking on the restaurant's front door by a woman warning her about five used syringes and a spoon left near the business's entrance. [continues 284 words]
Organizers Plan to Relaunch Legalization Campaign The campaign to decriminalize marijuana in B.C. looked like it might end up on a high note, but big numbers of those in favour started turning out too late to force a referendum. The petition drive got off to a slow start, but days before the close of the 90-day effort to get 400,000 petition signatures to force a referendum on the decriminalization of marijuana, the numbers of people willing to put their names behind the cause started ramping up. [continues 465 words]
Tom Mulcair, national NDP Party leader, stopped for morning coffee and to pitch the party's platform to abolish the Senate and work for marijuana reform Friday. Mulcair and his wife, Catherine Pinhas, were greeted by a small gathering of about 40 supporters and press at Mon Petit Choux Bakery and Cafe at about 8 a.m. for a meet and greet with supporters and local MLAs. Mulcair categorized the visit as part of a "listening tour" to hear concerns of British Columbians, but the overall tone of the event seemed a lot more like a campaign stop as he promoted federal NDP goals of abolishing the Senate and attacked the federal Conservatives and Liberals. [continues 322 words]
Mounties Put New Emphasis on Dealers Trading in Powders Nanaimo Mounties unleashed the newly formed White Team on drug dealers who trade specifically in powdered drugs. The team is a specialized enforcement unit created to tackle the distribution and sale of heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine and crystal methamphetamine in Nanaimo. It made its debut Wednesday at about 7:30 p.m. when team members netted several ounces of cocaine, plus stolen wallets and identification, along with two suspects at an apartment in the 400 block of Third Street. [continues 460 words]
Police in Nanaimo hope to lure kids away from drugs and alcohol with fishing trips. Cpl. Jake Ryan, head of Nanaimo RCMP's First Nation Policing Unit, was casting around for ideas to draw at-risk Snuneymuxw First Nation youth into drug and alcohol prevention education, but knew advertising an RCMP drug lecture just wouldn't work. Figuring learning should be fun, Ryan hooked onto the idea of fishing trips as a way to lure kids in. "We were looking for a fun way to try and get drug and alcohol education messages and provincial messages across," Ryan said. "So we looked to this venue and it worked really well because the kids really wanted to be there." [continues 496 words]
A recent Ontario superior court ruling against the federal government's medical marijuana regulations has a licensed medical marijuana user in Nanaimo wondering where she and other patients across Canada stand legally. Pam Edgar, host producer of CHLY Radio program Living Health, is a medical marijuana advocate. She is also a patient who uses the drug to control chronic pain from nerve and bone damage to her left leg from a motorcycle accident in 1975 and muscle spasms triggered by multiple sclerosis, which she was diagnosed with in 1988. [continues 616 words]
Nanaimo RCMP's Green Team has completed a six-week-long roundup of marijuana grow operations. The effort ran from late October to early December, during which police investigated 64 files generated from Crime Stoppers tips and police investigations. Over that six weeks, Mounties executed nine warrants and concluded 34 files, said Const. Gary O'Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman. The operation turned up 952 marijuana plants, more than 55 kilograms of marijuana, 135 grow lights, $4,000 in Canadian currency and one .22-calibre rifle with ammunition. [continues 98 words]
Nanaimo RCMP's Green Team did some early Christmas shopping to grab suspects, cash, weapons and marijuana in six weeks of operations in south Nanaimo. Const. Gary O'Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman, said the team worked 25 cases resulting in 14 search warrants. The inventory of confiscated goods included 1,257 marijuana plants, 25 kilograms of dried marijuana, 150 hydroponic lights, $120,000 in Canadian cash, $10,000 in U.S. cash, one silver bar worth about $1,200, two shot guns and a .22 calibre rifle. [continues 350 words]
The acronym for Youth Awareness of Drug Abuse Day was coined by the youth it targets and made its first large-production appearance at Wellington secondary school Friday. The event was organized by Nanaimo Alcohol and Drug Action Coalition and presented to Wellington's Grade 8 students. YADADAY included guest speaker Brendan Granger who, following an interactive DVD presentation about how he and his family dealt with his recovery from drug dependency, gave a live, emotional testimonial and answered questions about his experiences with drug and alcohol addiction and the effect these had on his life. [continues 269 words]
Marijuana grows well in Vancouver Island's great outdoors, which means the RCMP annually take to the skies to track and destroy grow-crops. From Aug. 22-30, RCMP Const. Darren Lagan was airborne over much of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands keeping his eyes peeled for pot. The eight-day search, using military helicopters from CFB Comox, turned up more than 16,500 plants which police seized and destroyed. More than 4,200 plants were discovered in the wilderness areas around Nanaimo and Gabriola Island. [continues 363 words]
Walk into practically any drug store, hardware or automotive supply store and you can buy materials that can supply a crystal meth lab. Sudafed, or any brand of cold tablets containing ephadrine or pseudoephedrine, acetone, paint thinner, brake cleaner, iodine, methanol in gas line anti freeze, red phosphorus from matches or road flares, propane, cat litter, rock salt, coffee filters and many more items are used to extract the methamphetamine from cold remedy tablets. "Common household items. Individually there's no problem," said RCMP Const. Beth Blackburn. "All this stuff together, we have issues." [continues 232 words]
Four policemen slain in the line of duty were remembered at the Port Theatre Thursday. In a scene that was repeated in theatres, churches and town halls across the country, hundreds of people including police and their families, paramedics, firefighters and military personnel filed through the entrance to the Port Theatre to sign a memorial book and leave cards or flowers around photos of Constables Peter Schiemann, 25, Leo Johnston, 32, Anthony Gordon, 28, and Brock Myrol, 29. The mood in the theatre was sombre, augmented by Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings playing quietly though the theatre's sound system as mourners, some forcing back tears, quietly took their seats. [continues 62 words]
A Nanaimo drug and alcohol recovery centre needs to expand its facilities - but needs $250,000 to do it. Clearview Centre launches its Building Space for Recovery fund-raising campaign this week to help more people recover from drug and alcohol addiction. The centre is run by Communities Resource Addiction Society, which has operated Clearview Centre at 967 Haliburton St. since 1995. The centre serves Vancouver Island and Gulf Island communities north of the Malahat and Powell River on the Sunshine Coast. [continues 197 words]
It is possible there have been people who have cycled across Canada on a dare. Then there is Stan Wawzonek, a 60-year-old Brantford, Ont., grandfather, who pedalled his bike across the country for DARE. 'I think it's one of the strongest programs there is for kids,' says Wawzonek. 'My oldest grandson went through the program and he said it was great.' The Drug Abuse Resistance Education program is taught to Grade 6 and 7 students to divert them from drug and alcohol abuse. [continues 218 words]
There was a time when road checks turned up their share of drunk drivers. But many of today's drivers are turning to drugs as a way to beat impaired driving charges. Const. Ross Beisel has been with Nanaimo RCMP's traffic division since 1998 and sees more drivers than ever under the influence of drugs. "Their pupils are dilated and the whites of their eyes are all pink," he says. "Take one sniff inside the car and you can tell what they've been doing." [continues 399 words]
