VANCOUVER -- Several groups advocating for the downtrodden of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside yesterday released what they claimed were key findings from a trial project that provided prescription heroin to addicts. The groups criticized the Conservative government, claiming the Tories suppressed the release of the results during the federal election campaign because they might reflect poorly on the government. But a spokeswoman for the project, known as the North American Opiate Medication Initiative, said in a brief statement released late yesterday that the final results are not ready and will not be released until later this month. [continues 463 words]
VANCOUVER -- Two associates of the Hells Angels who were convicted of possession and trafficking of cocaine after an RCMP investigation in Kelowna were handed jail sentences yesterday. Madam Justice Anne MacKenzie sentenced David Revell, 44, to five years in prison and Richard Rempel, 25, to four years. The judge noted that neither had a criminal record and both had expressed remorse for their crimes. Judge MacKenzie noted that Mr. Rempel had committed a minor offence since his arrest in April, 2005, but that, while deterrence and denunciation were primary considerations in sentencing, the two had shown "substantial potential for re-integration into society." Still, the judge also said that their crimes were "brazen, arrogant offences motivated by greed. [continues 335 words]
VANCOUVER - Former Londoner Marc Emery, British Columbia's self-proclaimed "prince of pot," says the Canadian government has nixed a plea bargain with U.S. authorities that would have meant five years in prison. Emery is charged in the U.S. with selling seeds over the Internet. He said yesterday he was willing to accept a five-year deal, but the Canadian government wasn't. "I was willing to accept the deal that would put me in jail for five years on a 10-year sentence, mostly served in Canada," Emery said at a news conference in the Vapour Lounge, newly opened above the downtown headquarters where he sells marijuana paraphernalia. [continues 311 words]
VANCOUVER - British Columbia's self-proclaimed "prince of pot" says Canada has rejected a plea bargain with U.S. authorities that would have meant five years in prison. Marc Emery is charged in the United States with selling seeds over the Internet. He said yesterday he was willing to accept a five-year deal but Ottawa wasn't. "I was willing to accept the deal that would put me in jail for five years on a 10-year sentence, mostly served in Canada," he said at a news conference in the Vapour Lounge, above the Vancouver headquarters where he sells marijuana paraphernalia. [continues 324 words]
VANCOUVER -- The federal Liberal Party has no intention of advocating the legalization of cannabis, but Leader Stephane Dion made it clear yesterday that under a Liberal government, other Canadian cities could have safe-injection sites like the one in Vancouver. Mr. Dion, whose party could be embroiled in an election campaign this spring, took about 20 questions at a town-hall meeting at the University of British Columbia. The questions were wide-ranging and included the Liberal Party's position on Afghanistan, the economy, climate change - - and marijuana. [continues 230 words]
VANCOUVER -- Some of the toughest cities south of the border are watching Vancouver closely as they try to deal with hardcore drug addiction, say delegates at an international drug conference. Deborah Peterson Small, of the New York group Breaking the Chains, said places such as San Francisco and New York are taking note of the city with the only safe-injection site in North America. "San Francisco has started looking at safe-injection sites as an experiment," Ms. Small said. "We hope that city governments in Baltimore, Newark and New Orleans that have significant problems with heroin and injection drug use will look to Vancouver as a place that provides a positive example of ways to reduce overdose deaths," said Ms. Small, who was one of about 80 delegates at the conference called Beyond 2008. [continues 219 words]
VANCOUVER - Health Canada has put off making a final decision on Vancouver's safe injection site. In a terse news release issued late Friday, Health Minister Tony Clement said more research needs to be done on how to get addicts off drugs. "Given the need for more facts, I am unable to approve the current request to extend the Vancouver site for another three and a half years," said Clement. He said a decision on the Vancouver application will be made by Dec. 31, 2007. [continues 363 words]
VANCOUVER -- Governments in Canada should steer completely clear from adopting or emulating any current drug policies in the United States, an outspoken prosecutor from New York State told an international conference in Vancouver yesterday. "My advice to Canada is stay as completely far away from U.S. drug-law policy as possible," said David Soares, the district attorney for Albany County. "You [Canada] are headed in the right direction." In a blunt and scathing condemnation of his state and country's ineffective drug war, Mr. Soares said lawmakers, judges and prosecutors in the U.S. know their system is ineffective. [continues 423 words]
Consumption Up By 13 Per Cent Since 1997 VANCOUVER - Canadians are drinking more and dying from alcohol-related causes at a far greater rate than from drug abuse, says a new study from the University of Victoria's Centre for Addictions Research. Statistics suggest alcohol consumption in Canada has risen by 13 per cent since 1997, a co-author of an addiction research survey said yesterday. "Nearly 5,000 Canadians die each year prematurely from the effects of alcohol, which is five times greater than all the illicit drug deaths put together," said Tim Stockwell, director of the research centre and co-author of the report, Patterns of Risky Alcohol Use in B.C. and Canada. [continues 527 words]
VANCOUVER (CP) -- Well-known Canadian pot activist Marc Emery and two others should be extradited to the United States to face several marijuana charges, says information contained in a search warrant sought by the United States and granted by a B.C. court. The raid on Emery's pot paraphernalia store in downtown Vancouver began in the late morning and involved several uniformed and plainclothes city police officers. [continues 427 words]
VANCOUVER -- Users of the highly addictive and increasingly popular drug crystal methamphetamine can be treated successfully, experts concluded following a three-day conference on the synthetic drug. "It's a difficult road but we heard from experts that it is possible to treat meth users and there is hope of reversing serious damage caused," said chairwoman Joanna Ashworth at the conclusion of the Western Canadian Summit on Methamphetamine. The three-day conference didn't conclude with any significant announcements but a panel will continue to work on a "consensus document" to try to map a strategy to fight the invasive drug. [continues 271 words]
VANCOUVER -- Conservative leadership candidate Belinda Stronach warned yesterday of the economic threat posed by proposals to decriminalize marijuana. The 37-year-old businesswoman told an offbeat Vancouver radio show that liberalizing pot use would lead to more searches and delays in the flow of goods at the U.S. border. "I think it's a bigger issue than we're willing to admit," she told JACK-FM on the popular morning Larry and Willy show. "If we were to decriminalize marijuana I think our great neighbour to the south would have a lot of problems with that and I think it would very much affect the Canadian economy." [continues 238 words]
Liberalizing Use Would Lead To Delays At U.S. Border, Says Political Neophyte VANCOUVER -- Conservative leadership candidate Belinda Stronach warned yesterday of the economic threat posed by proposals to decriminalize marijuana. The 37-year-old businesswoman told an offbeat Vancouver radio show that liberalizing marijuana use would lead to increased searches and delays in the flow of goods at the U.S. border. "I think it's a bigger issue than we're willing to admit if we were to decriminalize marijuana," she told JACK-FM on the popular morning Larry and Willy show. [continues 320 words]
VANCOUVER - One of the men connected to a Sunday police raid on the legislature offices of two B.C. cabinet ministers said Monday he's done nothing wrong and expects to be exonerated. David Basi, ministerial assistant to Finance Minister Gary Collins, said in a statement he was told by RCMP that he ''was not being arrested or charged at this time.'' Basi, who was fired Monday, made the statement after police raided the offices of Collins and Transportation Minister Judith Reid, seizing boxes of files. [continues 227 words]
VANCOUVER (CP) - Chances of the notorious Downtown Eastside becoming a tourist mecca anytime soon are slim, but its most drug-riddled section seems to looks better these days in a police video aimed at justifying a high-profile crackdown on dealers. As part of the continuing publicity campaign to gain public support for their efforts, the police department on Tuesday made available to the public a video of street life in the area shot prior to the crackdown. It's inviting people to visit the police Web site (www.vpd.ca) to see the difference. [continues 636 words]
VANCOUVER (CP) - A U.S. human rights group is accusing Vancouver police of abusing drug dealers in the city's notorious Downtown Eastside as part of a controversial crackdown. But police say the report by Human Rights Watch lacks credibility and that parts may have been fabricated. The New York-based human rights organization's report cited numerous allegations of police misconduct and abuse of process during a month-old campaign in the area that targets drug dealers. But the police officer overseeing the crackdown in the blighted area around Main and Hastings streets suggested Wednesday the authors were ignorant of Canadian law. [continues 733 words]
VANCOUVER -- There was more than the usual buzz happening yesterday at the downtown headquarters of the B.C. Marijuana party as news circulated -- along with the pungent aroma of burning pot -- that a Senate committee had recommended legalization of marijuana use. Marc Emery, perhaps Canada's best-known pot activist, was busy bouncing among media interviews at the store, which is also home to the party's extensive bookstore of how-to pot-pourri. Emery was visibly ecstatic, admittedly stunned at the way the stereotypical stodgy senators had suddenly become, well, dudes. [continues 419 words]
VANCOUVER ( CP ) - There was more than the usual buzz happening today at the downtown headquarters of the B.C. Marijuana party as news circulated - along with the pungent aroma of burning pot - that a Senate committee had recommended legalization of marijuana use. Marc Emery, perhaps Canada's best-known pot activist, was busy bouncing among media interviews at the store, which is also home to the party's extensive bookstore of how-to pot pourri. Emery was visibly ecstatic, admittedly stunned at the way the stereotypical stodgy senators had suddenly become, well, dudes. [continues 347 words]
VANCOUVER (CP) - Fully in the grip of a three-year-long heroin jag, Mark sags into a chair outside courtroom 309 after appearing before the drug treatment court judge and promising to clean up. Mark and a few other addicts - cocaine, heroin, or both - are making their case on a dull, rainy day before provincial court Judge Jane Godfrey, who presides over the innovative and newly opened drug treatment court. It's only the second in Canada after one began in Toronto a few years ago. [continues 834 words]
VANCOUVER -- It's time to stop talking and do something to stem the devastation of illegal drug use, experts appearing before a Commons special committee on the issue said Monday. "There's been enough reports and enough talk about what we should be doing and what intervention should be taking place," Dr. Mark Tyndall told reporters after his bleak report to the committee. "The ideas are out there now and it's time to get moving on some of them." Tyndall was one of several witnesses slated to address the committee over the next four days in Vancouver and Abbotsford, in British Columbia's Fraser Valley. [continues 564 words]
