Editor: The use of medicinal marijuana is a hot button topic for many, and there is no doubt the issue has the potential to impact on our community. I am not about to engage in a philosophical debate on the merits of medicinal marijuana, however, when I read your recent opinion editorial; "Safe Supply of Legal Pot," (The Times, Aug. 11), I felt it necessary to correct a few significant and misleading errors. The editorial referred to last month's raid of a medicinal marijuana dispensary by the Langley RCMP and stated the dispensary had been selling "...to people with valid licences to use marijuana." While I will not delve into specific evidence gathered during the course of our investigation, I can say that is not true. Nor do I believe the dispensary's operator has ever suggested that is the case. [continues 429 words]
It's been more than five weeks since Langley RCMP raided Randy Caine's medical marijuana dispensary, and no charges have been laid. "I find that disturbing," said Caine, a pro-marijuana activist who has fought many legal battles to decriminalize pot. "They've had plenty of time." On Tuesday (Aug. 23), Caine issued a challenge to the Crown prosecutor's office, which decides whether charges will be laid based on the police report of the investigation that led to the July 19 raid. [continues 450 words]
Vancouver Marijuana Dispensary Manager Offers to Help Revive Langley Operation After Raid The manager of a Vancouver medical marijuana dispensary has offered help to the people trying to resurrect a similar dispensary in Langley. Well-known marijuana activist Dana Larsen said assistance from the Vancouver Medicinal Cannabis Dispensary could include loans of money and marijuana on credit to re-establish the Langley Medical Marijuana Dispensary that was closed down following a July 19 raid by the Langley RCMP. "Our dispensary has donated medicine and cash to other dispensaries that get into legal trouble," Larsen told The Times. [continues 355 words]
The curious series of circumstances over a raid on a medical marijuana dispensary in Langley City highlights a significant flaw in the laws surrounding marijuana use. The dispensary, which had been selling various marijuana-based products to people with valid licences to use marijuana for medicinal purposes, was raided by Langley RCMP and shut down last month. Police said they had received complaints about the business, operated by longtime marijuana activist Randy Caine. Now this is not a standard police raid of a marijuana grow-op. It is far from it. [continues 262 words]
Langley Service That Was Shutdown By Police Will Be Revived, Meeting Told The Langley Medical Marijuana Dispensary that was shut down by police will be revived under new management and a different "member-driven" structure. Randy Caine made the announcement Tuesday night at a public meeting with more than 100 supporters at the Douglas Recreation Centre. We will have another dispensary operating in this community in the not-too-distant future," Caine said. Caine added the new dispensary will not be located in the office that was raided by police last month and he, personally, will not be involved in its day-to-day operation. [continues 429 words]
Corey Reid assembles a marijuana joint on the front patio of his Langley townhouse. I had to buy this from an illegal drug dealer because the [Langley] dispensary is no longer available to me,=94 Reid says as he lights up. I had to support crime with this. Fantastic.=94 Reid, a 24-year-old single dad, has a doctor's prescription for the marijuana he uses to manage severe chronic pain from Osgood=ADSchlatter disease, a condition that has caused him several knee dislocations. [continues 301 words]
The police raid that closed the Langley Medical Marijuana Dispensary came after Langley City Councillor Rudy Storteboom complained to Mayor Peter Fassbender. Both men confirmed there was a discussion in which the councillor brought up the dispensary, which is located in a condo unit next to a suite that Storteboom owns and leases to a hairdresser. He [Storteboom] indicated there was some concern," Fassbender said. There was a break-in [at the dispensary] right after it opened," Storteboom said. The mayor said he told the councillor that if the strata council that represents the owners believed illegal activities were being carried out, they should go to the police. [continues 210 words]
There were five Langley RCMP officers, all wearing "flak jackets" Randy Caine said. The owner and operator of the "Langley Medical Marijuana Dispensary" was raided Tuesday afternoon (July 19). The officers removed all of the marijuana from the premises during their 4 p.m. visit, but made no arrests, Caine told The Times. Caine said the seizure has deprived his clients of access to marijuana for chronic pain and other medical conditions. "I see this as a theft" Caine said. "Their medication has been stolen." [continues 540 words]
An amendment to Langley Township's zoning bylaw introduced at council's April 18 meeting addresses for the first time medical marijuana dispensaries. Mark Neill, the Township's manager of development planning, explained that although the document underwent a review in 2007, it did not make provision for medical marijuana dispensaries. The amendment is to specifically exclude them from commercial zones. The amendment defines medical marijuana dispensaries as the use of any premises to sell, distribute or trade the drug, unless allowed under federal marijuana medical access regulations. [continues 79 words]
Editor: This is a response to "Feds urged to cancel grow-op licences" (The Times, March 11). Although I don't use it, nor want my kids to use it, the little green plant has no basis for the amount of antipathy shown toward it. For millennia, its curative power has been used to treat both physical and mental/emotional conditions with great success in the right circumstances. I'm uncomfortable with the ongoing knee-jerk reactions of powerful people, reactions that only serve to keep the means to grow and distribute it in the hands of the criminals who care little what the plant is used for. It is well known that criminals will and do often kill, maim, extort, and make huge piles of tax-free profit at the expense of those who use it for curative or pleasurable purpose. [continues 242 words]
Editor: You left a few important facts out of your anti-medpot editorial "Government approved headache," (The Times, March 16). First, and most important, is that weed works. Many people across this country are coming to the realization that medical cannabis is a safe, affordable, healthy alternative to toxic synthetic pharmaceutical drugs which can damage organs and can have severe and sometimes fatal side effects. Second, the government of Canada did not "reluctantly agree" to allow citizens to use medical cannabis. [continues 191 words]
Editor: The problem with the current state of medical marijuana is not the "legal grow-ops" but rather prohibition itself. On the surface, dispensing medical marijuana through pharmacies sounds like a good idea. However, they would have to avoid the pitfalls that the current system could not. For example, each individual person has certain strains that work for them. Medical marijuana works in a similar way to anti-depressants, some swear by Prozac, others Zoloft and others yet, Paxil. A person with multiple sclerosis will need something that focuses on muscle relaxation and pain relief, whereas someone with migraine headaches or cancer will need a strain with strong anti-nausea properties. [continues 274 words]
If Canada'S Medicinal Marijuana Carried A Warning Of Side Effects, It Might Read Something Like This. Warning: May Cause Home Invasions. Can Lead To Newspaper Headlines. Unintended Consequences May Develop. The Mayors Of Both Langleys And The Local RCMP Commander Have Called For An End To Licensed Home-Based Pot Growing Operations, Complaining The Growth In Medicinal Marijuana Growing Permits Is Out Of Control. This Comes In The Wake Of Reports About Three Robberies Of Legal Licenced Growing Operations In Langley Over The Last Six Months. Homes In Brookswood, Fernridge And Willoughby Were Hit By Criminals Looking To Convert The Legal Non-Profit Product Into Something Less Legal And Presumably Pricier. RCMP Complain They Don'T Know Where The Legal Grow Ops Are Until Someone Robs Them. In One Case, At Least, A Grow Op Was Located Within Close Proximity Of A Langley Elementary School. It'S Probably Safe To Say This Wasn'T What The Federal Government Had In Mind When It Agreed, ! Reluctantly, To Allow The Use Of Marijuana For Medical Purposes. Pot Has Been Shown To Help Cancer Patients Control The Nausea Induced By Chemotherapy, Reduce Internal Pressure In Glaucoma Cases And Stimulate Appetite In Patients With AIDS Among Other Things. Allowing Its Limited Use In Such Cases Under A Doctor'S Supervision Seemed To Make Sense. But What Has Resulted Seems Less And Less Like Limited Use. In One Year, The Number Of Growing Permits In B.C. Alone Has More Than Doubled. During The Same Period, The Number Of Legal Users Has Grown Even More, With More Than 13 Times As Many People. If The Use Of Private Legal Marijuana Grow Ops Is Going To Continue, It Is Going To Have To Be Better Regulated. Letting Police And Local Authorities Know Where They Are Located Would Be A Good Start. Limiting Their Numbers Could Be Another. There Are Now Nearly As Many People Permitted To Grow Marijuana For Their Own Use Or For Others (2,585) As There Are Licenced Users In B.C. (2,99! 5). Do We Really Need That Many? [end]
Editor: Society isn't hypocritical only for prohibiting the relatively safe, extremely popular God-given plant cannabis (marijuana), while booze and cigarettes are legal ("We Are All Hypocrites," The Times, Jan. 5). Sadly, my fellow Christians are also hypocritical in supporting and permitting cannabis prohibition, since God, the ecologician, indicates He created all the seed-bearing plants, saying they are all good, on literally the very first page of the Bible. It is Biblically correct for Christians to help end cannabis prohibition, persecution and extermination. Stan White, Dillon, Colorado [end]
The first leadership candidate off the block for the NDP is Dana Larsen, is founding editor of Cannabis Culture, and founder of both the Vancouver Dispensary Society and EndProhibition. The media will have a field day with the marijuana connection. The rest of his platform will be ignored. Marijuana has been big news here lately, with the Cariboo being one of the hottest areas for "outside interests" to be growing the stuff. Williams Lake Mayor Kerry Cook had the big marijuana bust on her "best news for 2010" list. [continues 218 words]
The Township is looking to join Langley City in regulating businesses that sell drug paraphernalia. Currently the Township does not regulate drug paraphernalia, such as bongs, baggies, weights and pipes. They can be sold to anyone and can be displayed. If the bylaw is passed, it will require that all drug paraphernalia be kept out of view. The bylaw will restrict the age of purchase to 19. Several years ago, police visited a corner store in Willoughby, along with two stores in Langley City which were displaying numerous bongs and pipes for smoking pot and other drugs. When the City created its bylaw, the stores were quick to come into compliance. [end]
Langley Township's fire chief wants to see its Public Safety Inspection Team up and running again, despite a recent B.C. Court of Appeal ruling. The court ruling said the inspections violate people's basic Charter rights. "We will follow the court's direction, but we haven't changed our opinion on the value of the inspection team," said fire chief Doug Wade. "Our lawyers had drafted a new bylaw so we are hoping by the year's end that the team will be up and running again." [continues 392 words]
A licence to grow pot isn't going to help you if your home is invaded by gun-wielding masked men in the middle of the night. And the federal government's unwillingness to keep police in the loop about medicinal marijuana isn't helping matters. That was the message from Langley RCMP Supt. Derek Cooke when he spoke to Langley City council on Monday night about the growing challenges police face concerning medical grow operations. Although they have no way of knowing how many legitimate grow ops exist in Langley, police are seeing an increase in the number of violent "grow rips" associated with them, he said. [continues 594 words]
Editor: In the Lower Mainland, fire departments have become participants in a campaign against medical marijuana grow-ops, claiming there are 2,800 medical licences in Canada to grow medical marijuana and many are abusing their licences. This is despite successful efforts by the courts to restrict the searches by police, fire departments and electrical inspectors. During those searches, houses have had all power cut off on dubious grounds. There was even an incident in Langley where a fireman was accused of theft during a fire department raid. [continues 226 words]
Langley is home to the next up-and-coming criminal gang in the Lower Mainland. Supt. Dan Malo, head of B.C.'s Integrated Gang Task Force, shared the startling piece of information with the local business community on Tuesday night, when he addressed the Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce at its monthly dinner meeting. The Empire Gang formed in Langley and spread to Surrey, Abbotsford, Vancouver, White Rock and Delta. "But it was born here," Malo said, calling the gang, "the next Red Scorpions." [continues 786 words]
Turning a blind eye to your tenants' activities or being the "nice person" who allows strangers to stay on your land can prove to be a costly undertaking. Langley RCMP and Township of Langley bylaw enforcement officers are reminding residents that when it comes to property violations, the buck stops with the land owner. If tenants do damage or commit crimes, it is the owner who faces the fines and foots the bill for legally-required repairs. "Landlords may think they are doing their tenants a favour by letting them pay rent in cash, or allowing them to take on strangers as sub-leasers, but in the long run theofficer Merri-Ann Gray. "These suspicious behaviours can be a sign that illegal activity is taking place. Don't worry about being a nice person: protect yourself." [continues 742 words]
Editor: Stephen Harper's callous attitude towards drug-addicted people continues to be thwarted by the facts. The B.C. Court of Appeal has ruled that Insite - Vancouver's supervised injection facility - will remain open, despite the federal government's objections. Research has shown that since Insite opened its doors, there has been a large reduction in public drug use, syringe sharing, and discarded syringes. Research has also shown a reduction in the transmission of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis. In addition, since Insite opened more addicted people are seeking treatment and information on detox services. Even further, there has been no increase in public drug dealing and no increase in drug use or drug-related crime. [continues 204 words]
At about 5 p.m. on Monday, assistant Township fire chief Pat Walker sent a video link to all the department's firefighters. It may have saved the lives of firefighters who, only 90 minutes later, fought a house fire in Walnut Grove. The video described the legal use of common floor joists, which are composites of wood and glue. They are lightweight, strong and inexpensive. The problem is that they burn very quickly, so quickly in fact that several firefighters in the U.S. have died when floors like these collapsed beneath their feet. [continues 330 words]
The Ministry of Environment is assessing whether 30 barrels of drug-making waste dumped into a Walnut Grove creek did damage to the fish-bearing waterway on Tuesday morning. Resident in the area of 102B Avenue and MacKinnon Road, near the Fort Langley Golf Course, awoke to plastic and metal pails lying in the nearby creek and red liquid spilling out of some of the lids, said one neighbour. There was also bags of chemical powder. The Langley RCMP called Hazco, a hazardous clean-up company, to come remove the barrels, many of them full with an unknown liquid. [continues 91 words]
Langley RCMP are looking into billing property owners for their costs to dismantle a grow-op, after officers are putting in overtime to deal with the proliferation of B.C. Bud. "Our drug section is overwhelmed and members are coming in on their days off to take down grow-ops," said Supt. Derek Cooke at Monday night's Township council meeting. He was there to give the police quarterly report. "We have the legislation to bill back property owners for our time, so we will be looking into that." [continues 67 words]
It's a tale of two justice systems, and the comparison doesn't do Canada any favours. The leader of the Abbotsford-based UN Gang, Clayton Roueche, received a 30-year sentence in Seattle on Wednesday for his part as the mastermind of a criminal gang that smuggles marijuana and cocaine between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. He was sentenced in the U.S. because he was turned back from Mexico in 2008 and arrested at Dallas Airport. He might have received a sentence of comparative length in Canada, given his role as a crimnal mastermind. But he would never have served more than a small portion of it. In the U.S., Roueche will serve at least 85 per cent of his sentence before being eligible for parole. Here, he would likely not serve more than one-third of it. [continues 236 words]
Editor: In recent weeks, we've read letters of criticism against Langley City Mayor Peter Fassbender for his testimony in Ottawa regarding Bill C-15. This bill calls for mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related crimes. While I respect the right of others to offer opinions, I find comments by Mike Foster (The Times, Nov. 18) and Travis Erbacher to be very troubling and irrational. As a member of the Concerned Leaders for Justice Reform (CLJR), Mayor Fassbender and others have shown excellent leadership in researching and then advocating for various criminal justice initiatives. The CLJR exists courtesy of MP Mark Warawa, with early input from MLAs Rich Coleman and Mary Polak. MP Warawa faithfully participates in each and every meeting. [continues 425 words]
Langley's new police chief, Supt. Derek Cooke, will have no shortage of challenges as he takes over as officer in charge of Langley RCMP detachment. Langley police have had many significant investigations over the past year. Some of the biggest were dealing with several very serious cases that are part of the much larger Lower Mainland gang war. There was the very public execution of Kevin LeClair at the Thunderbird Village shopping centre in February, and several other gangland shootings. There was also a very serious beating administered to a gang member. [continues 299 words]
Drug offences are high on the agenda for Langley City's mayor. Peter Fassbender has been asked to testify in front of a Senate committee on Bill C-15, which calls for mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related crimes. When he flies to Ottawa this week, his message will be that the Senate should waste no time in passing the bill, Fassbender told council at Monday night's meeting. As to why he's been invited to speak, Fassbender isn't entirely certain, but he's happy to be asked. [continues 174 words]
Editor: Very quietly, U.S. President Barack Obama may have made one of the biggest, most revolutionary policy decisions of all time. Lost beneath the deafening noise of the 'public option' debate, is an equally significant bit of healthcare reform: the U.S. federal government will no longer arrest medical marijuana patients. To the average person this may not sound significant. After all, if they are medical marijuana patients, and the state they live in has medical marijuana exemptions, why would they be arrested? Well, the answer is that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is an unconstitutional department that overrides state laws. [continues 189 words]
Editor: I must say, I am getting quite sick of being told that I am immoral for supporting the legalization of marijuana and ending the drug civil war. After all, it seems that the record of the legalization movement is nothing short of exemplary when compared to the vicious authority that upholds drug prohibition. Drug prohibition was started in Canada following the 1907 Vancouver riots, and was brought in along with the Chinese Head Tax to provide a legal justification for racism and exclusion towards Chinese-Canadians. Chinese immigrants brought with them the cultural practice of smoking opium, and following the riots, which consisted of white British Columbians attacking Chinese immigrants, many racists in the west were calling for the deportation of Chinese immigrants. [continues 220 words]
Editor: I am writing to respond to the letter written by Sharon Parker in last Friday's (June 12) edition of The Times. After reading the opinion expressed in the letter "Marijuana prohibition does not make sense," I feel obligated to share my view and speak up for those who have been affected by someone else's marijuana use. There is no question that alcohol is easily accessible and more acceptable in society than marijuana is. But just as there are those who choose to abuse alcohol, there are people who choose to abuse their use of marijuana. [continues 237 words]
Editor: I'm wondering why a law that allows people to drink alcohol but not smoke marijuana is still in effect. Once you reach the ripe old age of 19, you can have access to all the alcohol you want, There are liquor stores, beer and wine stores, pubs and clubs and restaurants to provide you with your choice of booze. In the United States, you can buy it while you grocery shop, get your gas and even fill your prescriptions or buy your babies diapers and food. You can even brew your own beer and wine, either at home or in specialty shops. [continues 210 words]
A Langley man with a Health Canada licence to grow marijuana was busted by the RCMP's green team for stealing hydro and for growing more plants than he was allowed to. This is the fourth such bust Langley police have come across, where the grower is licensed to grow. This has Langley RCMP's Supt. Janice Armstrong asking Health Canada to require higher standards both of the growers and the buildings they use. On May 27, the drug section executed two search warrants for stealing hydro. [continues 278 words]
Editor: Who controls the U.S.-Canada border (Editorial: Crossing the line, The Times, May 24)? Cannabis (marijuana) prohibitionists do, that's who. Cannabis prohibition is a discredited, failed and harmful government-subsidized discrimination program that should never have been allowed to start and should have ended years ago. Problems due to cannabis prohibition can only increase; nothing good will ever come from the nightmare. Nearly every study, including government studies, call for an end to the farce. In the early 1970s, the Le Dain Commission's report along with Canada's 2002 Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs' report unanimously recommended to regulate cannabis the same way as alcohol. [continues 90 words]
Who controls the U.S.-Canada border? It doesn't seem to be the federal government - at least, not the elected government. A proposal to close the Aldergrove border crossing to commercial traffic seems to be totally driven by Canada Border Services Agency staff, and quite possibly by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Langley MP Mark Warawa, who is a government MP, does not want the border closed to commercial traffic and plans to make representations to Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan on the subject. [continues 332 words]
After 35 years of experience with mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes, Americans are beginning to abandon this discredited approach. Yet Stephen Harper's Conservative government now wants to saddle Canadians with these expensive and ineffective laws. Now before a Commons committee, Bill C-15 would impose a two-year mandatory minimum for dealing drugs like cocaine and methamphetamines in places where young people congregate. It would also impose a six-month jail sentence for growing even a single marijuana plant for the purposes of trafficking. [continues 220 words]
Editor: In response to your editorial of April 22, regarding Green candidate Travis Erbacher's suggestion that the solution to the epidemic of lawlessness around street gang activity would be to legalize drugs, I must respond. Anyone posing this suggestion must first ask themselves what would the conditions in British Columbia actually look like if we did legalize drugs? Because decriminalization advocates don't actually know what's really going on, they make some mistaken assumptions. The most important assumption is that "enforcement" of the existing drug laws in Canada haven't worked. This assumption couldn't be farther from the truth and let me explain why. [continues 501 words]
Editor: Is he on the same planet? I find it bizarre that Dr. Darryl Plecas' comments (The Times, April 26), tend to be in contradiction to those of most other criminologists, and often common sense. I do not know if his position as holder of the RCMP research chair has anything to do with this, but tend to suspect that he may be in the same position as the MD's employed by the pharmaceutical companies to validate their products. While we tend to be fixated on gangs and drugs, I would like first to question this fixation by Dr. Plecas. If we are to have our savings and chances of a reasonable retirement stolen from us, it will probably be as a result of fraud. The chances of that fraud being carefully investigated are slim to none. [continues 473 words]
Wednesday was Earth Day, and in the past, the Green Party was front and centre in helping promote an event which reminds all of us we need to be aware of the environment. Unfortunately, the Green Party locally, at least when it comes to candidates in the provincial election, seems to be consumed with just one issue - marijuana. The 19-year-old Green Party candidate in Fort Langley-Aldergrove, Travis Erbacher, is a well-spoken and intelligent young man. He has written numerous letters to the editor of The Times over the past several years. All were on variations of one topic - legalizing marijuana. [continues 277 words]
At the beginning of his address to Langley's Rotary Club, criminology professor and justice analyst Dr. Darryl Plecas said it was only a year ago he spoke to them, 'whining and sniveling' about the 'idiotic court system' and here he is again doing the same thing. "The judicial system is entrenched in stupidity," he said last Thursday at the Rotary's dinner meeting at Cascades Convention Centre. "Public satisfaction is in the toilet. Garbage comes out of the courts, day after day. The Charter is a wonderful thing until it gets in the hands of the judges." [continues 508 words]
Travis Erbacher, the founder of Langley Residents for Drug Policy Reform, is the Green Party's candidate for the Fort Langley-Aldergrove riding. "Although I am only 19 years old, I have been fascinated with politics my entire life and have been politically active for several years," Erbacher said in his announcement. Last year, he helped on Liberal hopeful Jake Gray's federal election campaign. "My early experiences in the political arena have been positive and have shown that the people of Langley appreciate a fresh voice to contrast with the same tired politics of the sitting political parties," Erbacher said. [continues 383 words]
Editor: I am writing in response to Travis Erbacher's letter 'Legalize drugs and gangs will go away,' (Langley Times, March 5). The suggestion by Mr. Erbacher to simply legalize all drugs is one that should be carefully reconsidered. In his letter, Mr. Erbacher proposes that prohibition increases the prices of substances and thus increases the violence of gang rivalries. While this may be true, the high prices of these substances may also discourage experimentation among young adults. This avoidance in experimentation would lead to fewer drug addictions in the future. [continues 417 words]
As Langley RCMP Supt. Janice Amstrong was about to give City council an update on policing issues, she was called away to be briefed about a man found bound and bleeding inside his vehicle at 200 Street and 53 Avenue on Monday evening. The Surrey man had been beaten badly in the head, likely over drug or debt collection, said Armstrong. He was not co-operating with police so they have very little to go on. Witnesses saw him driving erratically south on 200 Street, before he pulled over. The victim is well known to police. [continues 820 words]
Congratulations are due to the many police officers who investigated the various gangland shootings of recent years, and have now arrested four men in connection with the killing of six people in a Surrey high-rise in 2007. Two were innocent victims who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Among those arrested is Jamie Bacon, one of the Bacon brothers, the infamous Abbotsford trio. They and other gangsters have shown a callous disregard for anyone but themselves. One of their close associates, Kevin LeClair, who spent part of his teen years in Cloverdale, was murdered in broad daylight outside the Thunderbird Village IGA on Feb. 6. [continues 290 words]
It may not be politically correct, but let's stop all this crap about trying to rehabilitate criminals. The measure by the Tories to get rid of the two-for-one credit for time served is a step in the right direction. But if we really want justice, let's not sentence a crook to 10 years in jail, then let him out after he serves a fraction of that sentence. Take, for example, the Chilliwack man arrested in the RCMP's big drug trafficking bust last month, in which several people were taken into custody and charged with trying to move massive volumes of marijuana to the U.S. with the intention of hauling cocaine, weapons and other drugs back into B.C. [continues 205 words]
Hemp is now legal in Langley City. A bylaw that dated nearly as far back as the incorporation of the City, prohibiting the sale of hemp, was brought into the 21st Century on Monday night with no comments or objections from council. In a public hearing on the change to the bylaw, which no one attended, Mayor Peter Fassbender spoke about how hemp's usefulness included its use as an additive to milk, as clothing and other items. "This change to legalize hemp doesn't mean we support the sale of anything illegal pertaining to hemp," said Fassbender. [continues 97 words]
Editor: Stephen Harper's visit to Vancouver on Thursday, Feb. 26 was highly disturbing. Mr. Harper's Conservative party wants to re-introduce previously expired legislation, which would increase the penalty for growing one marijuana plant to a mandatory minimum sentence of six months in prison, as well as increasing penalties for other drug offences. The way that Mr.Harper has decided to do this, very opportunistically, has been to slide it under reasonable legislation which would increase gang-related murders to a first-degree murder charge. This is dishonest politics. It is also guaranteed to fail. [continues 205 words]
On the same day Prime Minister Stephen Harper came to Vancouver to announce a new 'Organized Crime Bill' to tackle gang violence, it appears another gangland hit left one young man dead in Maple Ridge on Thursday. A total of 19 shootings and half a dozen deaths in one month brought the PM here and B.C.'s top cops to Ottawa in an attempt to get serious about the out-of-control gang problem in B.C. The bill introduces automatic first-degree murder charges for anyone involved in a gang-related killing. Drive-by shooting convictions will receive mandatory four-year prison sentences. [continues 836 words]
The death toll continues to mount in the gang warfare that is plaguing this part of the province. On Monday, there were two shootings in Surrey. One saw a man wounded outside a nightclub. He drove into Langley before calling for medical attention. Later on Monday morning, a woman was shot and killed as she drove on a busy street near Guildford. She had a four-year-old child with her who, miraculously, was unhurt. There have been numerous other shootings in Vancouver, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Langley and Abbotsford. [continues 284 words]
