White Rock officers cracking down on drug trafficking White Rock RCMP have a stern message for those who peddle drugs in the city. "If you deal drugs in White Rock you are not welcome here. Prepare to be arrested. We will not tolerate the misery and pain you are bringing into the community," White Rock RCMP Staff Sgt. Daryl Creighton said in an emailed statement Friday afternoon. The news release comes on the heels of "significant" street level drug seizures and arrests in White Rock. [continues 171 words]
Regardless of whether one agrees with the decision to legalize marijuana, that train has left the station and is scheduled to roll down the track on July 1, 2018. The focus now must shift to how those changes will affect the rights of citizens, law enforcement and the courts. Once the smoke clears, there must be clarity and consistency in how police and the courts deal with offenders under the federal government's proposed new impaired-driving legislation. A ruling by Justice Nigel Kent on May 18 quashed a charge of impaired driving against a Vancouver man who, according to the police report, had "glassy red eyes," a "strong odour of marijuana" on him and pot grinders in plain sight in his vehicle. [continues 184 words]
A public suggestion by the provincial coroner to provide heroin to addicts is turning some heads. The comments by chief coroner Lisa Lapointe last week came after it was learned 116 people in this province died of overdoses from illicit drugs in January. It's widely believed the deaths are a result of fentanyl, a drug 100 times stronger than morphine. Lapointe said the people who have died haven't been successful in a variety of treatment programs. [continues 591 words]
Editor: Re: Delve deeper into drug issue, Dec. 28 editorial. Quite frankly, I was appalled at the tone of your editorial, which I assume was written in reply to your paper's online survey results that showed an overwhelming response from your readers who wanted to see governments reduce spending to fight the current drug crisis. Your passive-aggressive and condescending tone to somehow guilt the reader was, to be blunt, shameful. How dare you accuse us of lacking empathy or sympathy. [continues 392 words]
As the latest statistics from the BC Coroners Service confirm illicit-drug-overdose fatalities are continuing to climb, posters aimed at getting the message across that the danger isn't confined to addicts are being distributed throughout the Semiahmoo Peninsula. Verna Logan, constituency assistant to Surrey-White Rock MLA Gordon Hogg, confirmed last week that the posters, created by Fraser Health, have been sent to South Surrey & White Rock Chamber of Commerce officials for distribution to their membership, as well as the White Rock Business Improvement Association, the Surrey Board of Trade and other organizations. [continues 277 words]
Editor: Re: 'Safe-consumption' sites considered, July 20. Forty-three drug overdoses in Surrey on the weekend of July 16-17 and Mayor Linda Hepner refers to illicit drug use as a "lifestyle." Really, Mayor Hepner? Starting to use illicit drugs may be a choice - perhaps a recreational choice, but how often is it a way to deal with chronic pain, to self-medicate a mental health issue or to forget past trauma? And how quickly is it no longer a choice? [continues 162 words]
White Rock/South Surrey is considered a peninsula - not an island. Some residents and even some elected officials seem to like to suggest that drug turf-wars - and their spin-off violence - are a mid-to north-Surrey problem. The fact - both historically and currently - is that the trade and the targeted hits of competitors and enemies are our problem, too. We didn't really need the news of a drug-lab bust on White Rock's Parker Street earlier this month - during which police seized several firearms, $7,000 in cash and a stockpile of illegal drugs - to confirm that such heinous activities are on our doorsteps. [continues 300 words]
Editor: There are a number of issues surrounding the shootings in Surrey. Firstly, Surrey is one of the biggest areas in North America, so many of us throughout Surrey have no contact or experiences with any of it. Yes, we wonder why none of the Surrey councillors have said anything about it before the mayor finally had something to say (Get out of my city: mayor to shooters, April 8). They are all on the same slate and she is the boss and probably has tight reins on what they may say and when. [continues 167 words]
Surrey RCMP will be given real-time access to more than 400 traffic cameras in the city, and the full force of the regional Mounties to put an end to this year's shootings. The announcement comes as Surrey grapples with more than 30 shootings so far this year - a rate of one every three days. It's twice the rate of shootings that occurred last year. The culprits are involved in a low-level drug turf war, police believe. [continues 616 words]
Surrey RCMP have now been called to 31 shots-fired incidents in 2016 - - as of Monday evening. (There may well be more by the time this column is published). While there has only been one death as a result of the gunfire at last count, there have been five injuries. Nine buildings have been struck. Perspective is important. The 31 shots-fired incidents represent half of all such incidents reported to police last year. That was a year in which police and members of the public both made it clear there were a staggering number of shots fired. [continues 544 words]
There are certainly huge metropolises in this world, particularly south of the border, where gunfire doesn't merit a headline, and even certain killings go unmentioned by the media. Has Surrey become that kind of city? According to Surrey RCMP - now belatedly confirming 31 incidents of shots fired in the city since Jan. 1 - not every shooting incident that takes place is a cause for alarm or public concern. In justifying a lack of public announcements on such incidents, Supt. Shawn Gill suggests police only send news releases out when they need witnesses or when they believe such an incident poses a risk to residents. He says the police don't want "to create fear where there is no need to." [continues 284 words]
Editor: Re: Time to unleash responsibility, March 18 letters. This letter is prompted by a letter written by Barbara E. Allen, in which she mentions the recreational marijuana users that frequent the parking lots on the waterfront. I have often wondered how these people can be allowed to sit in their cars and smoke pot. One would assume they would then be driving home or elsewhere once they have finished their "smoke". Is driving under the influence of marijuana not illegal? Why are the police and bylaw enforcement not doing a better job of monitoring this situation and penalizing the offenders? It's not like it's that hard to detect that pot is being used what with the smell and, in some cases, the very visible smoke inside and outside the vehicle. Let's put an end to this "dopey" behaviour. G. Harrison, White Rock [end]
My recent columns on B.C.'s struggle with the growing westward migration of transients have produced responses that fall mainly into two groups. The largest is people relieved that somebody is questioning the urban media narrative. That's the one where drifters, drug addicts, welfare shoppers and thieves are the victims and working people, whose hard-earned communities are being degraded, are the problem because of their selfish, uncaring attitudes. Then there are readers so marinated in our nanny-state education, media and political system they object to anything other than a big-government response. They tend to ask, what's your solution, Tom? [continues 511 words]
With unlicensed marijuana dispensaries popping up in urban areas and thousands of unregulated medical licences for home growing still in legal limbo, the Trudeau government is starting work on its promise to legalize recreational use. Marijuana was a media darling in the recent election, but meeting in Vancouver with provincial ministers last week, federal Health Minister Jane Philpott found herself preoccupied with issues deemed more urgent. These include shifting our post-war acute hospital model to community primary care, tackling aboriginal health care needs, pooling pharmaceutical purchases to slow rising costs, and meeting an urgent Supreme Court of Canada directive to legalize assisted dying. [continues 517 words]
Illicit drug overdose deaths in B.C. jumped 27 per cent in 2015 and that grim statistic was even worse in the Fraser region, where deadly overdoses soared nearly 50 per cent. A total of 465 B.C. residents died from illicit drugs last year, almost 100 more than in 2014, according to new statistics from the B.C. Coroners Service. Fraser recorded the largest number of drug deaths of any B.C. region in 2015 - a total of 166, up from 111 in 2014. [continues 347 words]
It's been a topsy-turvy week for the federal Liberals in South Surrey-White Rock, with candidate Joy Davies resigning Sept. 10 after controversial remarks she made about marijuana use on social media came to light. Davies has been replaced by longtime Liberal and former Surrey councillor Judy Higginbotham. South Surrey resident Higginbotham has been soldiering for the Liberals, both federal and provincial, since 1983, when she first ran with the provincial Liberals in what was then the two-member riding of Surrey-White Rock. She left the provincial Liberals to run with the doomed Social Credit party in the 1991 provincial election in Surrey-Cloverdale, but has been a loyal Liberal since that time. [continues 607 words]
White Rock's Church of the Holy Smoke is on the search for a new home, Pastor Robin Douglas confirmed Wednesday. Currently housed at a rental property in the 14700-block of Marine Drive, the marijuana-centred church has been subject of several city-issued fines, as well as an eviction notice from the landlord. However, Douglas told Peace Arch News the impending move - which he hopes will take place within the next two months - was not in response to city or landlord directives. [continues 142 words]
Editor: Re: Pro-pot pastor shifts services to porch, Aug. 7. The so-called "Pastor" Robin Douglas of the "Holy Smoke Church" is making the front page again. He is doing the same thing as Walter Tucker did in Ontario around 1970-1980. Tucker called his church "The Church of the Universe," and he and his followers used marijuana as a sacrament and used the argument that he could do so because of freedom of religion. Tucker clogged up the courts for years, costing the justice system tens of thousands of dollars. [continues 181 words]
Despite orders from the City of White Rock to shut down the Church of the Holy Smoke - and frustration from the property owner who thinks stronger action should be taken - it will continue to operate, according to the man at the helm of the Marine Drive gathering place. Prior to a brief but tense standoff Tuesday in front of his 14737 Marine Drive rental property, which included White Rock bylaw officers and several RCMP officers, Robin Douglas told Peace Arch News that he and supporters of his marijuana-centred church will no longer be gathering in the tent structure, instead moving the activities onto the home's porch. [continues 427 words]
B.C. has a strong appetite for marijuana reform with more than 70 per cent of respondents to a new poll urging either legalization or decriminalization. The Insights West survey found 67 per cent said they support outright legalization, 28 per cent opposed it and five per cent were undecided. Support was slightly stronger among women, the under-35 age group and Vancouver Island residents, but at least 65 per cent back legalization in every region and within each age group. [continues 419 words]
