After decades of wasted resources, clogged courtrooms and a shift in public perception, let's end the war on weed Sometime this year, if it hasn't happened already, the millionth Canadian will be arrested for marijuana possession, Dana Larsen estimates. The indefatigable B.C.-based activist for pot legalization is thinking of marking the occasion with a special ceremony. True, it will be impossible to know exactly who the millionth person is, but with the Conservative government's amped-up war on drugs, it won't be hard to find a nominee. As Larsen notes, the war on drugs in Canada is mostly a war on marijuana, "and most of that is a war on marijuana users." [continues 5925 words]
It All Began When A Border Agent Noticed A Drug Dealer Doing An Honest Day's Work Until taking up residence at a Seattle-area federal detention centre this summer, 30-year-old Francis Devandra Raj, like many Indo-Canadians his age, lived with his parents at their Surrey, B.C., home. His father has owned an autobody shop for 30 years. Francis chose a different path. "Raj is no stranger to danger," says Pat Fogarty, an inspector with British Columbia's Organized Crime Agency, and the officer in charge of an investigative team of the province's Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit. Raj had a criminal history for marijuana possession and immigration violations. Investigators with the Canadian Border Services Agency kept watch, suspecting he might be involved in the cross-border drug trade. [continues 1895 words]
How a Documentary About Vancouver's Drug Plague Altered a Civic Election IT'S AN EASY 10-minute walk from the Cineplex Odeon theatres on Granville Street in Vancouver to the worst of the city's drug-addled Downtown Eastside. No, scratch that, it's not easy at all. It's an awful walk, past crackheads and junkies scamming, dealing and selling themselves for more of the drugs that kill them, or leave them vulnerable to disease and human predation. For tourists who make a wrong turn, it's like stumbling into a vision of hell. Most Vancouverites -- and federal legislators for that matter -- have simply avoided the area as they would a plague zone. That changed this fall, in one of the most remarkable municipal election campaigns in memory. [continues 595 words]
Vancouver is known as a pot-friendly North American Amsterdam. Officials hate that reputation -- but they're tough one moment, tolerant the next. MURRAY'S DOWNTOWN MARIJUANA speakeasy is no more, and he's a bit bummed out. His place was quintessential Vansterdam -- a third-floor walk-up with soaring ceilings and walls filled with good art selling at fair prices. There was a pool table, comfy seating and music set low enough to feed a conversational buzz. Tourists mingled with office clerks or Howe Street brokers. They'd buy pot from a little bar in one corner -- provided they were of legal drinking age. Murray -- who prefers not to reveal his last name -- was strict about that. They'd roll a few doobies and solve the world's problems, working up a killer appetite for dinner. [continues 1424 words]
As growing-op busts mount, how best to deal with the province's $3-billion cannabis industry? Should we follow the U.S. get-tough approach, or consider legalizing and ease up on pot policing? Jennifer remembers parking on the street, annoyed that cars had blocked the drive of her North Vancouver home. And how, oh my God, there were guys with armoured vests in the yard. She remembers walking into the kitchen on rubber legs, and seeing her 34-year-old husband, Morgan, sprawled on the floor. She remembers the shouting and the guns pointed at Morgan -- and the wreckage and chaos of the police search. [continues 2821 words]
Health Canada Calls For Tenders To Supply High-Grade Medical Cannabis. British Columbia's multi-billion-dollar pot industry has a chance to go legit with the news Friday that Health Canada is calling for tenders to supply high-grade medical marijuana. Announcement of the long-awaited tender was greeted with elation by Hilary Black, founder of Vancouver's Compassion Club Society. The three-year-old club operates in a legal grey zone, supplying medical marijuana to more than 1,000 members with such diseases as AIDS, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis. [continues 626 words]
The number of persons diagnosed with HIV last year plunged to the lowest level in British Columbia since 1985, but the drop in new infections is deceiving, say worried epidemiologists. It may mean only that there is a temporary shortage of vulnerable people left to infect. At first glance, new 1998 statistics from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control show a remarkable turnaround -- a killer beaten into retreat after millions were spent on medical research, public awareness and initiatives such as the needle-exchange program. [continues 654 words]
A world-class reputation is a carefully cultivated thing, and so it is with B.C. pot. Within the span of a generation home-grown marijuana has gone from outlaw weed to major export item by following -- with glaring exception of the Criminal Code -- all the accepted rules of commerce. Imported expertise, initially in the form of Vietnam-era draft dodgers, research and development, security of supply, and international marketing have all played their part. Even the U.S. Border Patrol, run ragged by B.C. pot-smuggling traffic, pays a grudging compliment. [continues 1258 words]
