Category Archives: canada

Marijuana advocates warn NDP plans for decriminalization would leave organized crime in control

On July 1, Vancouver police scuffled with advocates for marijuana reform at the annual Cannabis Day demonstration at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Pot TV photo.
On July 1, Vancouver police scuffled with advocates for marijuana reform at the annual Cannabis Day demonstration at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Pot TV photo.

In November 2001, Kash Heed stood before the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs and outlined why his police department had essentially stopped arresting people for marijuana possession.

“It was de facto decriminalization,” the retired commanding officer of the Vancouver police drug squad told the Straight. “I took a lot of heat from the RCMP for doing that.”

Published in September 2002, the committee’s final report is a serious document more than 800 pages long.

“In our opinion, Canadian society is ready for a responsible policy of cannabis regulation,” it concludes. “A regulatory system for cannabis should permit, specifically: more effective targeting of illegal traffic and a reduction in the role played by organized crime.”

Thirteen years later, the committee’s recommendations remain ignored and the report is all but forgotten.

As for Heed, who also served as B.C. solicitor general, he said he’s come to see problems with the position he took back then in favour of decriminalization; mainly, that it doesn’t go far enough.

Heed explained decriminalization would put an end to police busting people for smoking a joint. But he quickly added the illegal supply of marijuana would remain unaddressed.

“We’ll continue to have the murders, the kidnappings, the home invasions,” he said. “All of the violence that’s related to that black market will continue.”

“Decriminalization will do nothing to deal with that aspect of it,” Heed concluded. “Decriminalization is good business for organized crime.”

Ahead of this October’s federal election, two out of three leading political parties have pledged to reform laws concerning the prohibition of recreational marijuana. The New Democrats’ Thomas Mulcair has promised to pursue that policy criticized by Heed, arguing decriminalization is the best first step for marijuana reform and one that can occur while the issue receives further study. Meanwhile, the Liberal party led by Justin Trudeau has said it wants to fully legalize and regulate the drug.

In separate interviews, a number of prominent advocates for marijuana reform told theStraight they have nearly as many concerns about decriminalization as they do about the current system of prohibition.

While some aspects of decriminalization are similar to legalization, activists called attention to the most obvious difference between the two: the space it leaves for organized crime and the violence that follows.

Jodie Emery was an early supporter of Trudeau’s plan to legalize cannabis. She explained the NDP’s version of decriminalization only pertains to the demand side of illicit marijuana sales, leaving the supply side as it exists today. On the other hand, Emery explained, legalization would likely involve a regulatory system that would institutionalize the production and sale of cannabis similar to Canada’s existing systems for tobacco.

“The NDP’s decision to just look at reforming policy—to have another long investigation or discussion about reforming the laws—means that the criminal control of the market will remain in place, that gang violence will not be addressed in Surrey or anywhere as long as marijuana remains illegal,” Emery said.

John Anderson, a former B.C. Corrections officer and member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, described decriminalization as “a victory for organized crime”.

Dan Werb, director of the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy, explained the changes legalization would bring that decriminalization would not.

“In the case of B.C., we estimated that over $500 million in retail sales is going into the hands of organized crime every year,” Werb said. “If you remove that market, it is the most effective way of kneecapping organized crime and reducing the power of organized crime.”

Even the RMCP—a conservative organization that generally avoids even the appearance of disagreements with Ottawa—may be warming to the idea of reform.

In a telephone interview, Cpl. Scotty Schumann, a media relations officer for Surrey RCMP, confirmed drugs have played a “primary role” in a spate of more than three dozen shootings that have occurred in Surrey since last spring.

Asked how the legalization of marijuana could affect gang violence, Schumann replied: “I suspect that if marijuana was legalized, that would reduce the amount of black market activity surrounding marijuana. I would just be speculating on how that would affect the outcome. But I guess when you look back to alcohol prohibition, certainly, when that was removed, I think it benefited the country.”

There are few jurisdictions comparable to B.C that have legalized marijuana. One is Colorado, where recreational cannabis became legal on January 1, 2014. According tonumbers published by the city, from 2013 to 2014, robberies in Denver declined 3.3 percent, aggravated assault increased 1.2 percent, and homicides dropped 24.4 percent.

The Colorado experiment is still in its early days. There is however substantial research that shows existing police enforcement policies have little overall positive influence on violence related to drug dealing.

For example, a 2011 paper authored by academics with UBC and the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS reviewed 15 studies that examined law-enforcement agencies’ effects on gang violence. It found that 14 of them recorded an “adverse impact” and 10 showed a “significant association between drug law enforcement and drug market violence”.

That is, police enforcement of drug laws did not reduce violence but actually led to increased numbers of incidents.

Holding front seats for the violence Surrey has experienced this year are Sukh Dhaliwal, the Liberal candidate for Surrey-Newton, and his NDP incumbent rival,Jinny Sims.

In a telephone interview, Dhaliwal noted he’s historically voted in favour of tough-on-crime legislation. But he argued where marijuana is concerned, it is time for change.

“Every parent is concerned about this gang activity and this gang war going on right now,” he said. “One way we can work to ending this war is to take that criminal element out. And this evidence-based policy—legalizing marijuana—will get that element out. And decriminalization, as the NDP is saying, would keep that factor in.”

Dhaliwal called it a “smart on crime” approach.

In a separate interview, Sims didn’t disagree with the Liberals’ plan in principle. She criticized its potential execution.

“Nobody denies—except for maybe the Conservatives—that our marijuana laws need to be modernized,” Sims said. “But we need to base our decisions on evidence and public health principles.

“It’s not a simple matter of just coming out one day and saying, ‘We’re going to legalize marijuana’,” she continued. “That could lead to major transition problems.”

Neil Boyd, director of the SFU school of criminology, cautioned legalization won’t automatically translate into the evaporation of B.C.’s illegal marijuana trade.

“Regulation isn’t going to be easy,” he said. “How are you going to get rid of the black market? You have to set the price carefully.”

(A 38-page Liberal party policy document acknowledges those types of concerns. “To be successful and prevent organized crime from maintaining a black market, the price of legal marijuana must be lower than it is now,” it reads. “At the same time, the product’s quality must be at least as good – if not better.”)

Boyd said that while the NDP’s plan fails to address the problem of organized crime, the Liberals have yet to explain the details of their plan.

“Decriminalization, to many people, seems a safer approach,” he said. “I think that is mistaken. But I understand the logic. There is a fear that with legalization, we’ll have promotion.”

Boyd suggested it is unlikely legalization would ever take the form of unfettered distribution for marijuana as if it were a harmless product like milk or eggs. He argued Canada should follow examples for how it regulates controlled substances such as tobacco and alcohol.

“We’ll want to regulate it in the public interest,” he said.

This article is part of a series.
Part one: Liberals and NDP promise marijuana reform but pot crimes could still haunt Canadians for decades
Part two: Decriminalization versus legalization: marijuana advocates scrutinize competing plans for reform
Part three: Marijuana advocates warn NDP plans for decriminalization would leave organized crime in control

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This article was originally published in print and online at Straight.com on September 19, 2015.

B.C.’s new $10.45 minimum wage will rank among lowest in Canada

ACORN member Laura Cairns is one of tens of thousands of Lower Mainland residents 25 years or older who struggles to get by on the miniumum wage. Travis Lupick photo.
ACORN member Laura Cairns is one of tens of thousands of Lower Mainland residents 25 years or older who struggles to get by on the miniumum wage. Travis Lupick photo.

On September 15, British Columbia’s minimum wage increased by 20 cents, to $10.45 an hour. There was no press conference. Since the hike was announced last March, the government has barely said a word about it. That’s despite Premier Christy Clarkhaving personally championed a higher minimum wage.

Just days after assuming office in 2011, for example, Clark pledged to keep B.C.’s minimum wage out of the gutter where her predecessor, Gordon Campbell, had left it at $8 an hour for a decade.

“We’re not going to be number one in the country by any stretch,” Clark said on CKNW radio on March 17, 2011. “But we’re going to be catching up. We won’t be at the bottom anymore.”

That promise held for a couple of years after Clark raised the minimum wage to $10.25 in 2012, Irene Lanzinger told theGeorgia Straight. But the president of the B.C. Federation of Labour quickly added Clark’s commitment is about to be broken and stay that way.

Lanzinger explained that when one ranks B.C. alongside Canada’s other provinces and territories, B.C.’s minimum wage will soon drop all the way down to 12th out of 13 jurisdictions in the country. She noted that’s according to the federal Labour Program, which has compiled forthcoming changes scheduled for implementation before the end of 2015.

A federal document states five provinces are about to implement their own wage hikes effective October 1. Those are Alberta (going to $11.20), Manitoba ($11), Newfoundland and Labrador ($10.50), Ontario ($11.25), and Saskatchewan ($10.50). In addition, Lanzinger noted New Brunswick has committed to an $11 minimum wage by 2017, which means B.C. could soon rank dead last.

Lanzinger said an insufficient increase to the minimum wage is half the problem. The other half, she continued, is that B.C. simultaneously pegged the province’s minimum wage to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a statistical estimate similar to a measure of inflation.

By itself, Lanzinger said, that would be a good thing that provides predictability to both employees and employers. However, she asserted, tying the minimum wage to the CPI coupled with that modest bump of 20 cents means the bottom of the country is where B.C.’s new minimum wage will remain.

“We are essentially indexing poverty,” she said. “We’ve got people earning poverty wages at our current minimum wage, and they will never get out of poverty. If you are going to peg it to something, you need to raise it above the poverty line first.”

The B.C. Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training didn’t make a representative available for an interview.

Opponents of a higher minimum wage often claim it’s an issue that’s largely confined to young people on their way to higher-paying jobs.

According to a government analysis obtained via a freedom-of-information request, in 2013 there were 120,400 British Columbians earning the minimum wage. Of those, 47 percent, or 56,100, were 25 years or older. The ministry’s March 12 news releaseannouncing the change to $10.45 states there were then only 110,400 British Columbians earning the minimum wage. However, those revised statistics leave out how many are older than 24.

One of those people is Laura Cairns. She’s in her early 50s, living with her daughter in a one-bedroom apartment in New Westminster.

A decade ago, Cairns recounted, she worked as an office manager and earned double the minimum wage. Then her parents got sick and she was forced to leave the workforce to take care of them.

“I stepped out of the mainstream economy to look after my parents and now that I’ve stepped back in, I’m forced back to minimum wage,” she said.

Today, Cairns works temporary jobs in warehouses or cleaning construction sites.

“People look down on me now because I am a low-wage earner,” Cairns said. “I’m used to people’s opinions and judgments. But it’s very demoralizing.”

When Lanzinger claimed B.C.’s new minimum wage will keep British Columbians like Cairns in poverty, she wasn’t spouting rhetoric. In B.C., everybody who survives on the minimum wage and who resides in a city of more than 500,000 people officially lives in poverty.

According to Statistics Canada data, the 2014 poverty line in a metropolitan area like Vancouver was a before-tax income of $24,328 a year.

If Cairns works 40 hours a week for $10.45 an hour, she’ll earn $21,736 a year, falling $2,592 short of breaking even with the poverty line.

The bar is lower for rural areas. But for the estimated 60,000 minimum-wage earners living in Metro Vancouver, the Straight calculated what’s needed to raise them out of poverty is a minimum wage of $11.70 an hour.

Iglika Ivanova is a senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ B.C. office. In a telephone interview, she said her organization has called for a $15 minimum wage because that’s what’s needed to truly constitute a living wage. But she emphasized even the Straight’s conservative estimate of $11.70 is more than a full dollar above B.C.’s new minimum.

“You can dispute whether that’s $12 an hour or closer to $14, depending on how you do the calculation and what you say is a full week’s work,” Ivanova explained. “But whatever you say, hundreds of thousands of people are living in poverty here in B.C. And this 20-cent increase will not bring them out of that.”

Ivanova called attention to the province’s rationale for tying the new wage to the CPI. Like Lanzinger, she agreed its predictability is a good idea in principle. But Ivanova warned tying future increases to a formula could see the government use that as an excuse to avoid revisiting the $10.45 benchmark as something that might be too low.

“We will be stuck at the bottom again,” she said.

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This article was originally published in print and online at Straight.com on September 16, 2015.

Ottawa threatens to bypass VPD and send in RCMP to bust Vancouver marijuana dispensaries

Don Briere of Weeds Glass and Gifts is just one of dozens of Vancouver marijuana dispensary operators whose businesses could be at risk if Ottawa makes good on a threat to shut them down using the RCMP. Travis Lupick photo.
Don Briere of Weeds Glass and Gifts is just one of dozens of Vancouver marijuana dispensary operators whose businesses could be at risk if Ottawa makes good on a threat to shut them down using the RCMP. Travis Lupick photo.

The Vancouver Police Department is playing it cool in response to the suggestion the RCMP could be on its way into the City of Vancouver to shut down marijuana dispensaries.

“We have a great working relationship with the RCMP,” VPD Const. Brian Montague told the Straight. “I’ll let them [RCMP] respond to any insinuation that they are going to come into Vancouver.”

The spokesperson for the force made those remarks in response to the distribution of letters sent from Health Canada to a number of Vancouver marijuana dispensaries. In those documents, Ottawa threatens to send RCMP officers into the City of Vancouver.

“If the [named dispensary redacted] does not immediately cease all activities with controlled substances, we will contact, within 30 days of the date of this letter, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for enforcement action as they deem necessary,” reads a copy of the letter posted online at LiftCannabis.ca.

“The Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) prohibits any person from engaging in activities such as production, provision, sale (including offering for sale, import, export, transport, delivering of controlled substances unless authorized under its Regulations),” it continues.

The letters do not include an individual’s signature but are marked “Office of Medical Cannabis” and “Health Canada”.

In an email to the Straight, Health Canada spokesperson Patrick Gaebel subsequently confirmed the letters’ authenticity.

“On September 9, 2015, the Department (Office of Medical Cannabis) sent 13 letters to organizations who were found to be illegally advertising the sale of marijuana. The letters require that all advertising activities with marijuana cease,” Gaebel wrote. “Health Canada will attempt to work cooperatively with all parties involved to encourage compliance. If continued non-compliance is identified, the Department may refer the case to law enforcement agencies for appropriate action.”

If RCMP officers did cross into Vancouver and began to shut down marijuana storefronts, that would be a de facto overruling of both the City of Vancouver and the VPD. Those bodies have at least tacitly worked together on a hands-off approach while stating publicly that the illegal dispensaries are simply not a policing priority.

On the prospect of the RCMP conducting policing activities within the City of Vancouver and without the VPD’s cooperation, Montague declined to comment further and directed questions to the RCMP.

Speaking more generally, Montague said the nature of the Lower Mainland means the VPD and RCMP work together on a routine basis and regularly coordinate regional policing efforts.

“The Vancouver police will go into RCMP jurisdiction cities like Surrey, Coquitlam, and Richmond, to investigate crimes that originated in Vancouver,” he explained. “Of course criminals don’t look at city borders so there are often cases that take us beyond the City of Vancouver as well as cases the RCMP would have that would take them into our jurisdiction.”

The RCMP refused to grant an interview.

In June 2015, the City of Vancouver responded to a proliferation of marijuana storefronts by adopting a legal framework and regulations that Mayor Gregor Robertson has said will bring order to an illegal industry that the federal Conservative government has ignored.

Today (September 10) Robertson responded to the alleged Health Canada letter by calling it “curious”.

According to the Globe and Mail’s Andrea Woo, Robertson added he is hopeful the federal government “actually does something meaningful here — has some modern policy toward marijuana”.

It’s estimated there are more than 90 cannabis shops operating within Vancouver city limits.

In April 2015, Canadian Health Minister Rona Ambrose and Public Safety MinisterSteven Blaney co-signed a letter sent to Robertson and the VPD wherein they expressed Ottawa’s disapproval of Vancouver’s plan to regulate those dispensaries.

“Storefront sales of marijuana are illegal and under our government, will remain illegal,” it reads. “Like the vast majority of Canadians, the Government expects that police will enforce the laws of Canada as written.”

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The article was originally published online at Straight.com on September 10, 2015.

Downtown Eastside hotel tenants dying at a rate eight times Canada’s average, UBC study finds

Despite sometimes-shoddy conditions, residents of Downtown Eastside hotels have protested the gentrification of their neighbourhood and called for the city to protect that kind of affordable housing stock. Travis Lupick photo.
Despite sometimes-shoddy conditions, residents of Downtown Eastside hotels have protested the gentrification of their neighbourhood and called for the city to protect that kind of affordable housing stock. Travis Lupick photo.

Downtown Eastside residents living in the city’s derelict hotels are dying at a rate more than eight times the national average, a UBC study has found. The risk is especially great for people living with a mental illness, even when that group is compared to people similarly living in poverty.

“The probability that an individual with psychosis would survive to age 50 is 68% compared with 94% for those without the diagnosis among marginally housed individuals,” reads an August 2015 paper published in the British Medical Journal Open. “Individuals with psychosis may face a greater than eightfold increase in mortality risk compared with those without psychosis.”

While those grim statistics may not come as a shock to those familiar with the impoverished neighbourhood, what’s causing many of these early deaths did surprise researchers.

The paper presents findings based on a sample of 290 men and 81 women who were recruited through Downtown Eastside single-room occupancy hotels (SROs) and Vancouver’s Downtown Community Court. The group was monitored from November 2008 to August 2012 and, during that time, 31 participants died. That’s a rate of eight times the national average. And for those aged 20 to 59, the mortality rate was 10 times the Canadian average.

Contrary to popular assumptions, researchers “did not find any link with HIV or substance addiction”, a UBC media release states. In cases where participants passed away, psychosis and hepatitis C-related liver dysfunction was “significantly associated with increased mortality”.

For younger participants under the age of 59, the situation is even worse. For that group of Downtown Eastside residents, the mortality rate was found to be 10 times Canada’s average.

“We were somewhat surprised because most people thinking about the Downtown Eastside think about HIV/AIDS or the possibility of overdosing on opioids like heroin,” said William Honer, one of the study’s co-authors and head of UBC’s department of psychiatry, quoted in the release. “Our system is not doing as well in getting treatments out there for psychosis and hepatitis C in this group, and it’s interesting that those two illnesses are causing risk for early mortality.”

It was discovered only one-third of the 173 participants diagnosed with psychosis were receiving treatment for that mental-health condition. And for the 57 people with an active hepatitis C infection and related liver dysfunction, not one of them was receiving treatment for that illness.

“Psychosis is an extremely prevalent issue among inner city populations and we need to address this,” said Andrea Jones, another of the study’s authors and an MD/PhD candidate in mental health and addictions research at UBC, quoted in the release. “We need to be ready to detect and treat mental illness in an integrated way that really meets the patients where they’re at. We need to improve the detection and treatment of psychosis and hepatitis C in marginalized people across Canada.”

The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and by B.C. Mental Health and Substance Use Services.

It states there are some 3,800 people living in SROs in the Downtown Eastside.

There are an estimated 2,000 “severely ill” SRO tenants not receiving the care they require for mental-health and addiction challenges, according to a September 2014 report of the Mayor’s Task Force on Mental Health and Addictions.

Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) is the regional authority the province tasks with delivering the bulk of health-care services provided to the Downtown Eastside. It spends roughly $55 million a year in the neighbourhood. A February 2015 policy paper lays out strategies and specific recommendations for a “second generation” of health-care designed for the Downtown Eastside. It acknowledges that VCH has largely failed to keep pace with changing needs, and promises the health authority will adapt and improve.

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The article was originally published in print and online at Straight.com on September 10, 2015.

Decriminalization versus legalization: marijuana advocates scrutinize competing plans for reform

Jodie and Marc Emery have paid a heavy price for the war on drugs, which is why they’re paying attention to the NDP and Liberal platforms. Travis Lupick photo.
Jodie and Marc Emery have paid a heavy price for the war on drugs, which is why they’re paying attention to the NDP and Liberal platforms. Travis Lupick photo.

There are few people in Canada who have suffered a blow from prohibition like the one that hit Marc and Jodie Emery. On September 10, 2010, after deportation from Vancouver, Marc was sentenced to five years in a U.S. prison for trafficking marijuana seeds.

Canada doesn’t actually send many people to prison for cannabis offences. And if a person is incarcerated for such a crime, it is seldom for as long as five years. But Marc’s transgression was trafficking. On top of his political activities (or because of them, many argue), that was reason enough for authorities to throw the book at him.

Marc has held a grudge.

“Canadian politicians are the most gutless group of people I have ever seen,” he said just hours after his release on August 12, 2014. “They don’t want to bring up marijuana. They are afraid of it. After 45 years, really, they’re still afraid of it?”

Ahead of Canada’s federal election scheduled for October 19, candidates for prime minister are talking about cannabis reform. All three leading parties have staked out clear positions that differ significantly from one another.

In 2012, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government implemented mandatory-minimum sentences for marijuana production and trafficking. Since then, the Conservative party has doubled down on its tough-on-crime stance. “We will not introduce misguided and reckless policies that would downplay, condone, or normalize the use of illegal drugs,” Harper said at an August 11 campaign stop in Ontario.

That was a shot at the federal Liberals and party leader Justin Trudeau’s promise to legalize and regulate recreational cannabis.

Speaking in Vancouver on August 19, Trudeau shot back: “Mr. Harper has failed in his drug policy,” he told the Georgia Straight. “It is time that Canada regulated and controlled marijuana to protect our kids, to protect our communities, and to prevent the funds from flowing into the coffers of drug runners and street gangs.”

A more detailed version of the Liberals’ plan for legalization appears in a 38-page draft policy document published in 2013. It states that recreational marijuana should come under a regulatory framework that covers not only the sale of cannabis but also its production, distribution, and taxation. (The end result would be a system like the one that governs cigarettes, Hedy Fry, the Liberals’ candidate for Vancouver Centre, recently told the Straight.)

That document also addresses Canadians stuck with a criminal record of the sort that can turn up in a background check or in the databases of U.S. customs officials. A Liberal government would “extend amnesty to all Canadians previously convicted of simple and minimal marijuana possession, and ensure the elimination of all criminal records related thereto,” it states.

At an August 20 stop in Vancouver, NDP leader Thomas Mulcair said amnesty for past offences was an “important question” and one an NDP government would “look at”.

While the Liberals have promised legalization, the NDP has said it will decriminalize marijuana. “It is something that we can do immediately,” Mulcair told the Straight. “I am categorical that no person should ever face criminal charges or a criminal record for personal use of marijuana.”

The NDP has emphasized that repealing criminal penalties for personal-use possession is only a first step in its plan to reform marijuana laws. Communications director Jen Holmwood readily admitted the party is still working out what would come next. She told the Straight another early move would be to “create an independent commission” that consults with provincial governments and studies the issue.

At Cannabis Culture headquarters on West Hastings Street, Jodie Emery emphasized the Liberal and NDP positions sound similar but are actually very different.

For starters, she said, under Mulcair’s reformed system that only abolishes penalties for small amounts of marijuana, her husband still could have gone to jail for trafficking.

The NDP’s plan only addresses demand, Emery explained. Under decriminalization, the supply side of B.C.’s billion-dollar marijuana industry would largely remain as it exists today: illegal, with grow-ops and distribution networks kept in the shadows under the control of organized-crime syndicates and outside the reach of consumer safeguards such as health regulations.

“Mulcair’s current position would maintain prohibition,” Emery concluded.

The differences between decriminalization and legalization are relevant to more British Columbians than one might think.

According to the B.C. Ministry of Justice, during the first six months of 2015, only 327 people were held in B.C. Corrections facilities for drug crimes.

However, according to a Statistics Canada report, B.C. authorities recorded 15,773 cannabis offences during 2014. (An offence is defined as any criminal infraction regardless of its outcome. From there, police officers and prosecutors have discretion for how to proceed. An officer can record an individual’s name and transgression and let them go, for example, or they can recommend the Crown pursue charges that can land a person in prison.) That document suggests this issue is of greater concern to B.C. than any other province. It states that in 2014, B.C. recorded 341 cannabis-related offences per 100,000 people while neighbouring Alberta recorded 181 and Ontario just 145.

John Conroy, a Vancouver-based lawyer and expert in marijuana law, told the Straightthat those two groups—those charged and convicted for marijuana crimes versus people caught with cannabis but then let go—serve as one example of the tangible differences between decriminalization and legalization.

He explained that the NDP’s plan to decriminalize would likely lower the penalty for any of those 327 convicted drug offenders who were imprisoned for marijuana crimes. At the same time, Conroy continued, decriminalization could escalate the punishment inflicted on those more than 15,000 people who were registered for a cannabis offence but let go without police recommending a charge.

“If it is decriminalized, than it is simply not a criminal offence,” Conroy said. “So it would not form part of a criminal record and you would not be subject to arrest for a crime. But you would still be subject to potential police interference from whatever civil scheme that the politicians come up with.”

That would most likely take the form of a legal framework for ticketing, Conroy guessed, similar to the treatment of traffic violations or fare evasions on public transit.

“My expectation would be that with a ticketing system, the charges will go up, not down, and it will maybe become a cash grab,” he said. “So we will still see interference with people’s civil liberties, even more with a ticketing system than with the current approach under the current law.”

Conroy also emphasized that under decriminalization, all of those more than 15,000 people would still see their names entered into police databases alongside the word marijuana. So if a prospective employer or U.S. customs agent runs a check on anyone ticketed for possessing cannabis, they could still lose that job or be barred from entering the United States.

On the other hand, Conroy said, the Liberals’ plan to legalize would truly end prohibition of marijuana in Canada. “Just simple possession, if it is legalized, than it becomes like buying alcohol or tobacco,” he said.

Conroy emphasized that an over-the-counter system would mean no tickets, no names recorded by police, and no problems with prospective employers or international travel.

Emery noted all of that only concerns the demand side of the marijuana trade. On the supply side, the differences between decriminalization and legalization are even more pronounced. (Exactly how will be explored in depth in subsequent articles in this series.) “Some people say that marijuana is not an election issue,” she said. “Well, we’re seeing the NDP, the Liberals, and even the Conservatives speaking about it, which means that people are asking.”

This article is part of a series.
Part one: Liberals and NDP promise marijuana reform but pot crimes could still haunt Canadians for decades
Part two: Decriminalization versus legalization: marijuana advocates scrutinize competing plans for reform
Part three: Marijuana advocates warn NDP plans for decriminalization would leave organized crime in control

Follow Travis Lupick on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

This article was originally published in print and online at Straight.com on September 9, 2015.

SFU study finds illegal drug-injection sites are saving Vancouver taxpayers money

SFU researcher Ehsan Jozaghi looked at the numbers and found that unsanctioned supervised-injection facilities that run similar to Insite can save lives and save the city money.
SFU researcher Ehsan Jozaghi looked at the numbers and found that unsanctioned supervised-injection facilities that run similar to Insite can save lives and save the city money.

It has long been an open secret in certain health-care circles that the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) will, from time to time, operate an unsanctioned drug-consumption site.

Unlike Insite, North America’s only government-approved supervised-injection facility (SIF), the VANDU sites run illegally. Usually occupying a spare room somewhere in the Downtown Eastside, these locations serve as relatively safe places for crack cocaine and heroin users to access clean equipment and consume drugs. They will sometimes remain open for months before shutting down.

Now an August 2015 paper authored by SFU researcher Ehsan Jozaghi has examined one such site and found that the illegal operations have been a good deal for Vancouver taxpayers.

“VANDU’s unsanctioned SIF establishment in the DTES saves taxpayers’ money,” reads the paper published in the academic journal Health & Justice. It explains that significant cost savings occur because consumption sites lower the transmission rates of diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C, thus saving health-care expenditures on treatment. For example, researchers estimated that one additional SIF site can run on $97,203 per year to avert 30 new HIV cases and 81 new incidents of hepatitis C.

The paper notes that Insite is operating at its maximum capacity and that efforts to establish additional SIFs have long stalled in Ottawa on account of opposition from the federal Conservative government.

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This article was originally published in print and online at Straight.com on September 9, 2015.

Liberals and NDP promise marijuana reform but pot crimes could still haunt Canadians for decades

Burnaby father Trevor Holness still feels the impact of his pot conviction after Vancouver police busted him more than 20 years ago with a third of a gram.
Burnaby father Trevor Holness still feels the impact of his pot conviction after Vancouver police busted him more than 20 years ago with a third of a gram.

It was 20 years ago that Trevor Holness was arrested for marijuana possession in Vancouver. He had just turned 18 and was out with friends at the annual fireworks celebration on English Bay, Holness recounted in a telephone interview.

Today he lives in Burnaby as a family man with a career and a mortgage. But Holness conceded that back then, he was “a bit of a delinquent”.

“I was pulled aside during an altercation between my friends and some other friends,” he said of that night. “And I was arrested.”

Police found a 250-millilitre bottle of liquor and 0.34 gram of marijuana. They recommended a number of charges that eventually saw prosecutors offer Holness a deal: take the charge for marijuana, do one day in jail, and authorities would forget about the rest.

“I pled guilty,” Holness said. “I wish I never did.”

Holness argued that the true penalty he paid was not the one night he spent imprisoned. “It was that charge,” he said, explaining that the record of the crime has hurt him over and over again.

In 2006, for example, he was denied security clearance for a construction job at Vancouver International Airport. He’s afraid of U.S. customs officials and has missed business trips that would have advanced his career. More recently, the drug charge complicated an insurance plan tied to his mortgage. On job applications, Holness is asked if he’s bondable or has ever been convicted of an offence.

“I’ve had to check those boxes and there have been jobs that I didn’t get because of that,” he said.

For this series, the Georgia Straight interviewed a half-dozen British Columbians caught with marijuana by police.

In September 2012, RCMP officers were looking for a stolen boat along the Fraser River when they stumbled on Matt Roan. He admitted that he and a friend were there smoking pot. Neither was arrested but both learned later that their names were listed in police databases alongside a drug offence.

In May 2013, Ucluelet resident Adam Rodgers woke up to find his home surrounded by officers with guns drawn. His five young children still have nightmares, Rodgers told theStraight. “Over three plants.”

In February 2015, Sarah Bowman purchased cannabis with a prescription at a Vancouver dispensary. On her way home to New Westminster, RCMP caught her smoking on the street. Like Roan’s, her transgression was recorded in the RCMP’s computer system but she was released without charge. “Shaking and terrified,” Bowman added.

Holness was caught with one-third of a gram of marijuana in 1994. He emphasized that police 20 years later are still handcuffing Canadians for crimes related to cannabis, and he warned that those people could be living with the consequences two decades from today. Holness suggested the laws that criminalize marijuana inflict far more harm than the drug itself.

That’s despite two out of three leading parties in this October’s federal election having pledged to reform marijuana laws as soon as they take office. At an August 20 campaign stop in Vancouver, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair told the Straight he would decriminalize pot “the minute we form government”. A few months earlier and also in Vancouver, Justin Trudeau promised a Liberal government would legalize recreational marijuana “right away”.

For victims of prohibition like Jodie Emery—whose husband, Marc, spent almost five years in a U.S. prison for selling marijuana seeds—it raises a question: if by this time next year marijuana possession is no longer a crime, why are law-enforcement agencies still busting people, with repercussions that last a lifetime?

From 2003 to 2012, the B.C. Ministry of Justice recorded charging 44,522 people under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act for crimes related to cannabis. (The Straight is waiting on freedom of information requests for more recent data.) But B.C.’s prisons are not overcrowded with inmates serving time for petty marijuana offences.

According to the ministry, during the first six months of 2015, only 327 people spent time inside a B.C. Corrections institution solely for a drug crime. An additional 1,069 British Columbians were convicted of a drug offence but handed probation or released on a conditional sentence.

However, groups such as the B.C. Civil Liberties Association have warned that the digitization of information means that even a congenial encounter with police can result in devastating consequences. And there continue to be a lot of marijuana seizures that fall into that category.

As few as seven percent of B.C. marijuana violations result in charges, according to a 2011 analysis published by the University of the Fraser Valley. But according to Justice Ministry numbers, from 2003 to 2012 B.C. police recorded 173,157 offences related to cannabis, every one of which remains in police databases today.

All of these numbers have grown since Prime Minister Stephen Har­per’s Conservative government assumed power in 2006. If a Liberal or NDP administration is elected this October, they should decline significantly but to varying degrees, depending on who takes office and how reforms are implemented.

Dan Werb is director of the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy and the lead author of an August 2015 report that summarized existing research related to marijuana use and the consequences of proposed regulations.

“There is no evidence that our current system is doing anything but making life more miserable for people who use cannabis,” he said in a telephone interview.

Werb told the Straight the NDP’s plan to decriminalize and the Liberals’ plan to legalize are different from one another to a much greater degree than most people understand. (Exactly how the two policies differ will be explored in depth in subsequent articles in this series.)

He explained that although both decriminalization and legalization involve significant reforms on the demand side—repealing laws that prohibit the drug’s possession, for
example—it is only legalization that also brings changes on the supply side.

“When we think about decriminalization, I actually find it to be really problematic,” Werb said. “What decriminalization does not entail is effectively changing the structure by which cannabis is produced or sold.”

In June 2015, the City of Vancouver responded to a proliferation of marijuana storefronts by adopting a legal framework and regulations that Mayor Gregor Robertson has said will bring order to an illegal industry that the federal Conservative government has ignored. The Liberals’ Hedy Fry and the NDP’s Constance Barnes have had a front-row seat to this experiment. In this October’s federal election, they are the top contenders for Vancouver Centre, a riding that is home to more cannabis dispensaries than any other in the country.

In separate interviews, Fry described the current situation as closer to decriminalization. She criticized it for that reason and argued that what is needed is a higher degree of regulation, which she said Trudeau’s plan for legalization will provide. Meanwhile, Barnes argued that what has happened in Vancouver is “legalization without a plan”. She said that is what the Liberals are now threatening to apply to the entire country.

“The use of cannabis is not going away,” Barnes said. “But I do not support going forward with any kind of legalization until we have a plan in place. And at this point right now,
I do not see any plan. It is putting the cart before the horse.”

Fry maintained that legalization will address people’s common complaints about Vancouver dispensaries.

“Decriminalization has been going on and it hasn’t really worked,” she said. “By legalizing it, we can control the substance.”

Holness said he’s waiting for that day. “I’ve never felt any animosity towards police,” he noted. It is the politicians, he said, he holds responsible.

This article is part of a series.
Part one: Liberals and NDP promise marijuana reform but pot crimes could still haunt Canadians for decades
Part two: Decriminalization versus legalization: marijuana advocates scrutinize competing plans for reform
Part three: Marijuana advocates warn NDP plans for decriminalization would leave organized crime in control

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This article was originally published in print and online at Straight.com on September 2, 2015.

Raiding Unist’ot’en camp would be “disastrous”, B.C. RCMP warned

A First Nations settlement in the path of the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline was recently expanded to include a bunk house with beds for 20 people plus additional infrastructure designed to let the camp support itself. Unist'ot'en Camp photo.
A First Nations settlement in the path of the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline was recently expanded to include a bunk house with beds for 20 people plus additional infrastructure designed to let the camp support itself. Unist’ot’en Camp photo.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) has sent a letter to the RCMP warning against “an impending, and possibly large-scale, RCMP action in relation to the Unist’ot’en camp”.

The Unist’ot’en camp is a settlement that some members of the Wet’suwet’en Nation began constructing in northwestern B.C. in 2010. Its location was strategically selected to obstruct the path planned for the Pacific Trail natural gas pipeline. The settlement has since been expanded in opposition to the Northern Gateway oil pipeline, which would follow a similar route across the province.

“We understand that the RCMP may have already taken a decision, or be about to take a decision, that the RCMP will move in and remove people from the Unist’ot’en camp by force if necessary,” the BCCLA letter reads. “If we are mistaken in this, we hope that the RCMP will clarify this with the public immediately. We are deeply concerned that such an approach would be disastrous and would not respect the constitutionally-protected Title and Rights of the Unist’ot’en, as well as their rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”

The letter goes on to present a legal argument that outlines the Wet’suwet’en’s right to occupy the area in question.

“A move by the Crown to remove the Unist’ot’en camp would be at odds with these legal principles and with respect for their Title and Rights,” it reads. “We are extremely concerned with the suggestion that the RCMP may proceed without a court order, and without the Unist’ot’en having any opportunity to defend themselves in court.”

The BCCLA letter, which is signed by executive director Josh Paterson, concludes by urging the RCMP to reconsider any plan it might have to move on the Unist’ot’en camp.

The BCCLA’s warning follows the publication of a similar letter signed by a long list of organizations that range from environmentalists to civil-liberties advocates that’s titled, “We Stand with the Unist’ot’en”.

Those include Greenpeace Canada, the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs (UBCIC), Idle No More, and the SFU Institute for the Humanities, as well as individuals including David Suzuki, Naomi Klein, and federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May.

That letter claims the Unist’ot’en camp enjoys significant support despite being relatively small in size.

“We are deeply and gravely concerned to learn from a variety of sources that the RCMP appear to be on the verge of executing a highly provocative and dangerously reckless operational plan to make arrests,” it reads.

It states the organization signatories “denounce any attempt by the federal government, provincial government or RCMP to interfere in the rights of the Unist’ot’en to occupy, manage, or maintain their lands.”

The second letter was made public with a UBCIC media release. “The Indigenous Unist’ot’en Clan of the Wet’suwet’en Nation in northwestern BC are on high alert about a likely impending large scale RCMP mass arrest operation on their territory,” it reads.

Update: According to the Smithers Interior News, TransCanada recently reported Unist’ot’en camp members to the RCMP. That followed activists blocking four TransCanada vehicles from entering Wet’suwet’en territory for the purposes of conducting “environmental fieldwork” related to the construction of a proposed natural-gas pipeline.

The RCMP responded to a request for comment regarding the BCCLA’s letter with a statement that alludes to ongoing interactions between members of the extractive industry and Unist’ot’en camp residents.

“We are aware of the letters and understand that there has been some discussions on social media that don’t accurately reflect the RCMP’s action or the situation,” reads an email supplied by RCMP media relations officer Cpl. Janelle Shoihet. “To date there has been no police action. It is our understanding that discussions between industry and the Wet’suwet’en are still possible.”

The RCMP’s claim that there has been no police action contradicts Wet’suwet’en people’s reports of recent increased police activity in the area around the Unist’ot’en camp.

The RCMP’s statement goes on to emphasize the force remains “impartial” in the Wet’suwet’en’s dispute with corporations.

“Our efforts all along have been in keeping the peace, negotiations, and bringing the affected parties to the table for a fruitful discussion in the hopes of coming to a resolution,” it reads. “We will continue to work with all stakeholders and provide assistance as necessary in maintaining peace and keeping everyone safe.”

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This article was originally published at Straight.com on August 27, 2015.

Mental-health advocates say past death reviews like Abbotsford inquest haven’t prevented tragedies

In June 2015, B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake (middle) joined Vancouver health researchers for a walk through the Downtown Eastside, a neighbourhood that accounts for a disproportionate number of emergency mental-health visits seen by nearby St. Paul's Hospital. Travis Lupick photo.
In June 2015, B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake (middle) joined Vancouver health researchers for a walk through the Downtown Eastside, a neighbourhood that accounts for a disproportionate number of emergency mental-health visits seen by nearby St. Paul’s Hospital. Travis Lupick photo.

The B.C. Schizophrenia Society (BCSS) has said it has low expectations for a coroner’s inquest that will examine three deaths linked to mental-health issues that occurred over a four-month period beginning in December 2014.

According to the B.C. Coroners Service, all three individuals died shortly after leaving Abbotsford Regional Hospital, which is run by the Fraser Health Authority. The inquest is scheduled for May 16, 2016.

BCSS program and development coordinator Ana Novakoviccalled attention to a number of previous government reviews of similar deaths. She emphasized those were followed by recommendations that failed to prevent the three being examined next year.

“Since 2008, there have been three other coroner’s inquests into deaths involving improper monitoring and discharge of mentally ill patients in hospitals under Fraser Health Authority’s jurisdiction,” Novakovic told the Straight. “A number of improvements were recommended as a result of these inquests, but it seems that they are either inadequate or have not been implemented.”

According to a BCSS analysis, those earlier cases concerned Ross Allan, who died in April 2008, Jasdeep Sandhu, who died in October 2008, and Patricia Reed, who died in February 2011. According to their respective inquest verdicts, all three were admitted to Fraser Health hospitals for mental-health reasons and died while in the care of those facilities or shortly after discharge.

BCSS executive director Deborah Conner said she’s worried the review scheduled for May 2016 will find the three people who are the subjects of that inquest—Brian Geisheimer, Sebastien Abdi, and Sarah Charles—died under similar circumstances.

“My question would be: was there a treatment plan when these people were released?” Conner said.

In a phone interview, Stan Kuperis, director of mental health and substance use for Fraser Health, listed a number of mental-health-care reforms implemented in recent years. These include improved patient-transfer protocols, for example, and revised policies for discharging patients. In addition, Kuperis emphasized that Fraser Health pays close attention to coroners’ investigations.

“We have responded to all those recommendations within previous coroner’s inquests and have put changes into place in response,” he said.

According to Conner, the most troubling aspect of this series of events is that when it comes to mental health, Fraser Health is actually among the best B.C. service providers.

“There are similar problems everywhere,” she said. “It could very easily be happening in all the other regions.”

According to Fraser Health, during the 2013–14 fiscal year, its 12 hospitals throughout the Lower Mainland saw 30,305 emergency mental-health visits.

On August 19, the Straight reported that the number of emergency mental-health visits Vancouver General Hospital and St. Paul’s Hospital see together in one year is projected to surpass 10,000 before the end of 2015. That’s up from 6,520 in 2009.

Those hospitals—operated by Vancouver Coastal Health and Providence Health Care, respectively—have also dealt with high-profile incidents that followed patients leaving a facility after they were admitted for a mental-health issue.

In December 2012, for example, Nicholas Osuteye attacked three women two days after he was discharged from St. Paul’s Hospital. In February 2012, Mohamed Amer stabbed an elderly man the same day he was released from St. Paul’s. And in January 2012, Jerome Bonneric was charged with assault shortly after St. Paul’s let him go. (An external reviewof the Amer case resulted in 22 recommendations for service improvements.)

In a telephone interview, Dr. Bill MacEwan, head of psychiatry at St. Paul’s Hospital, explained how staff work to try to ensure nobody admitted for mental-health reasons leaves on their own or without a support system in place.

“The three key things for any individual that we always try for is a place to live, follow-up care, and support, where support can be a variety of things, from family to a mental-health team,” he said. “To get those three variables covered, that’s the general approach that we take.”

MacEwan stressed that’s not always easy, especially when an individual has no fixed address.

“It’s harder to track somebody and find somebody and follow up with care if you don’t know where they live,” he said. “For those individuals, to have them go into care, that becomes more difficult. Sometimes it’s a shelter.”

Conner said the problem is not insurmountable and primarily persists on account of a lack of political will.

“It’s not like we don’t know what has to happen,” she said. “Programs have been around for a long time. They have proven to be effective, and they have academic rigour. They just needed funding and consistency.”

In 2010 (the last year for which statistics are available), hospitals only fully implemented 26.3 percent of coroners’ recommendations, according to a department annual report.

The B.C. Ministry of Health did not make a representative available for an interview.

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The article was originally published in print and online at Straight.com on August 26, 2015.

Vancouver hospitals predict 2015 will see emergency mental-health visits surpass 10,000

St. Paul’s has gained only nine new long-term mental-health care beds since the City of Vancouver made a call for 300. Charlie Smith photo.
St. Paul’s has gained only nine new long-term mental-health care beds since the City of Vancouver made a call for 300. Charlie Smith photo.

Vancouver is experiencing a crisis in mental-health care that continues unchecked. That’s the conclusion Vision Vancouver councillor Kerry Jang draws from data covering 2009 to the end of June 2015, which show emergency mental-health and substance-misuse hospital visits have increased every year and are on track to hit a record high come December.

“We clearly need more long-term mental-health care,” Jang said in a phone interview. “We know that there are so many people in the Downtown Eastside who don’t see or have any contact with mental-health professionals at all. So the emergency ward is very much becoming primary care. That is something that has to change.”

Jang was responding to information provided at the Straight’s request by Providence Health Care, which operates St. Paul’s Hospital, and Vancouver Coastal Health, which runs Vancouver General Hospital. The statistics show that during the first six months of this year, the two hospitals together saw 5,110 people experiencing a mental-health crisis admitted and 3,703 visits for substance-misuse problems such as a drug overdose. The comparable numbers for 2014 are 4,895 mental-health emergencies and 2,830 cases of substance-misuse issues.

By the end of 2015, these numbers are projected to surpass 10,220 mental-health emergencies and 6,146 substance-misuse incidents. Taken together, that translates to an increase of 76 percent compared to 2009.

Over the last five years, the Vancouver Police Department has observed a similar rise in the number of apprehensions its officers make under the B.C. Mental Health Act. In 2014, officers detained 3,010 people under Section 28 of the act, which allows police to take into custody an individual deemed mentally unfit and a threat to themselves or others. That’s up from 2,278 in 2009. During the first six months of 2015, the VPD made 1,510 Section 28 apprehensions.

Jang, who sits on the Mayor’s Task Force on Mental Health and Addictions, said what’s needed to reverse these trends is greater involvement by the province. He reiterated a call for more long-term-care beds that Mayor Gregor Robertson has made repeatedly since declaring a “mental-health crisis” in September 2013.

The B.C. Ministry of Health declined to make a representative available for an interview.

In recent years, the province has allocated money for mental-health-care infrastructure. For example, in January 2015, it announced that an addition to VGH will open in 2017 as the largest facility for mental-health and addiction services in British Columbia. However, the city has said what’s required to address the problem in Vancouver is 300 “long-term and secure mental health treatment beds” and, in September 2014, warned that the province was falling short of that number by 250. (The province has made small numbers of new beds available—nine at St. Paul’s Hospital, for example, and 14 on the Riverview grounds in Coquitlam. But the majority of funding is going to replacing outdated facilities.)

Mark Levy is the medical manager of the VGH psychiatric-assessment unit. He told theStraight the statistics match what he’s observed on the ground.

“It does put a strain on resources,” Levy said in a phone interview. “There really hasn’t been an increase in in-patient beds to any significant degree. We do run into situations where we are in a crisis mode and we have to accommodate patients that are in the emergency room.”

Levy emphasized the numbers make clear there is a problem. But he also said they include good news, explaining that they’re at least partly the result of changing attitudes and a shift away from the justice system in favour of health care.

“People who might have been taken to cells in the past are seen by an arresting officer as suffering from a mental-health issue,” Levy said. “Now, rather than charge them—as long as it’s not a serious offence—they will bring them to hospital.”

He suggested the next step should be making more mental-health care available in communities where people live, so they receive treatment before their mental health declines to a point where they end up in an emergency room.

“These are chronic problems,” Levy said. “Are people best treated in a hospital or should we try to do whatever we can to help them deal with their problems while they are residing in the community?”

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This article was originally published in print and online at Straight.com on August 19, 2015.