Tag Archives: prohibition

Varied takes on marijuana turn Metro Vancouver into a patchwork of unpredictable enforcement

Sarah Bowman was handcuffed by Burnaby RCMP after smoking a joint.
Sarah Bowman was handcuffed by Burnaby RCMP after smoking a joint.

Late one evening last February, Sarah Bowman was on her way home when she was approached by two RCMP officers at the Edmonds SkyTrain Station in Burnaby.

She had just smoked a joint, Bowman recounted in a telephone interview, but she didn’t think she was in real trouble. Bowman explained that she had a doctor’s prescription for the drug and had obtained it with that document at a medicinal-marijuana dispensary in Vancouver.

“I saw police officers making the rounds, so I threw my joint away,” she said. “They walked straight up to me, a gentleman showed me his badge, grabbed my hands, and handcuffed me without me even responding.”

Bowman sat on the ground as officers searched her bags. They didn’t find any marijuana and eventually located both Bowman’s prescription for cannabis and her dispensary membership card. But the RCMP officers dismissed those documents as irrelevant.

They argued that under existing laws, medicinal marijuana must be obtained via mail order from a certified Health Canada supplier. That is accurate (with exceptions) and remains true today.

On November 13, Liberal prime minister Justin Trudeau issued a mandate letter that stated the Ministry of Justice should “create a federal-provincial-territorial process that will lead to the legalization and regulation of marijuana”. But Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould (MP for Vancouver Granville) has yet to act on that directive.

Both the Justice Ministry and the RCMP refused to grant interviews. Cpl. Janelle Shoihet, a spokesperson for the B.C. RCMP, did however confirm officers are still enforcing cannabis laws including those that prohibit possession.

Dana Larsen is vice president of the Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries. He told the Straight that although the country remains in a period of transition on marijuana, municipal jurisdictions are policing cannabis as they see fit. Larsen suggested that situation has turned an urban region like Metro Vancouver into an unpredictable patchwork where some jurisdictions zealously enforce drug laws while others turn a blind eye to petty crimes like possession.

“In B.C., it totally depends on the mayor and the mayor and city council,” he said.

Bowman was travelling from Vancouver to New Westminster but stopped in Burnaby to visit her boyfriend. The Vancouver Police Department has long maintained it does not consider marijuana possession an enforcement priority. Meanwhile, in 2014, the New Westminster Police Department recorded a seven-year low for drug offences (going as far back as data is publicly available). But Burnaby is policed by the RCMP.

“They left me shaking uncontrollably and terrified,” said Bowman, who was eventually released without charges. “I used to think that police officers were there to help. Now, I’m paranoid. I’m afraid of police.”

Murray Rankin, opposition critic for justice and NDP MP for Victoria, told the Straightthat stories such as Bowman’s should serve as a warning. He said cities like Vancouver and New Westminster may not consider it a priority to go after someone with a joint but anecdotal evidence suggests the situation is different in jurisdictions covered by the RCMP.

“It’s quite a varied landscape out there,” he said. “We want a coherent position across the country.”

Rankin added that the situation on Vancouver Island is similar to that of Metro Vancouver. The City of Victoria (which has its own municipal police force) has tacitly accepted marijuana storefronts and is drafting regulations comparable to those Vancouver adopted last June. Meanwhile, Rankin continued, in Nanaimo (where the RCMP patrols the streets), marijuana is still getting people into trouble with law enforcement.

Barely an hour after Rankin’s call with the Straight, the RCMP issued a news releasestating they had executed search warrants at three marijuana dispensaries in Nanaimo.

Rankin acknowledged that legalizing marijuana—that is, creating a framework for sales similar to rules that cover tobacco—will be complicated and take time. But he argued it would not be hard for the federal government to decriminalize possession of small amounts of cannabis. Rankin noted the Liberals have discussed this as a likely first step, and he wondered when that will happen.

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 B.C. Justice Ministry numbers, from 2003 to 2012, police across the province recorded 173,157 offences related to cannabis.

Larsen emphasized that even without a charge, an apprehension such as the encounter with RCMP Bowman experienced is usually entered into a police database, where it can remain for years and create problems for someone when the apply for a job or travel to the United States.

Like Rankin, Larsen said he accepts that full legalization will likely be a long process. “But there is no reason to continue arresting people for possession,” he said. “Especially when those charges are likely going to be dropped in a few months anyways. What’s the point?”

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

Marijuana advocates point to Liberal hints of what legalization might look like under Justin Trudeau

Jodie Emery, a lead advocate for marijuana reform and once in the race to represent the Liberal Party of Canada in Vancouver East, says legalization will be good for everybody, with sales projected to rake in billions for the government. Cannabis Culture photo.
Jodie Emery, a lead advocate for marijuana reform and once in the race to represent the Liberal Party of Canada in Vancouver East, says legalization will be good for everybody, with sales projected to rake in billions for the government. Cannabis Culture photo.

The unofficial leader of Canada’s marijuana-reform movement had a succinct reaction to the Liberal’s October 19 victory over the tough-on-crime Conservatives.

“Holy smokes,” Jodie Emery said in a telephone interview. “We were all joking about how activists are out of a job. Mission accomplished. Now what?”

In his campaign for prime minister, Liberal party leader Justin Trudeau promised his government would fully legalize and regulate the sale and consumption of recreational cannabis. That pledge went significantly further than NDP leader Thomas Mulcair’s plan to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of pot. While decriminalization leaves supply to the black market, Trudeau insisted Canada should regulate cannabis in ways similar to how the country handles other controlled substances, such as alcohol and tobacco.

“It is time that Canada adjusted to the reality that controlling and regulating marijuana is a way of both protecting our kids, protecting the public, and ensuring that we are not financing gangs to millions and millions of dollars,” Trudeau told the Straight at an August 19 campaign stop in Vancouver.

Now, Emery said, there are a thousand questions about how that will happen.

“What kind of system are we going to have?” she asked. “Now it really comes down to the details….But right away, they have to stop arresting people. The first step has to be an immediate decriminalization-type system where nobody is arrested for possession anymore.”

In March, Trudeau told CKNW Radio that a Liberal government would begin by decriminalizing marijuana “in a very rapid fashion”. That requires removing cannabis from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, which would save a lot of people from negative interactions with police. From 2003 to 2012, the B.C. Ministry of Justice recorded charging 44,522 people for crimes related to cannabis. (Though it might be further down the road, Trudeau has also said a Liberal government would be “looking into” how it might “overturn previous convictions” for crimes related to marijuana.)

Exactly what comes next is less certain, but a 38-page Liberal party draft “policy paper” dated January 2013 provides many hints.

It recommends marijuana be sold in retail storefronts, perhaps similar to those already operating in Vancouver. That document repeatedly emphasizes a legitimate marijuana industry should be heavily regulated. It points to tobacco and alcohol sales as examples, noting there are strict rules for how those products are supplied, sold, and advertised.

It also analyzes American states that have legalized cannabis such as Washington, and acknowledges a number of issues with which those jurisdictions have struggled.

“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.”

As the owner of a number of Vancouver dispensaries, Don Briere conceded he stands to gain a lot from Trudeau’s plan. “We were dancing in the streets,” he recalled of election night. But Briere argued people who have nothing to do with pot also stand to benefit.

He explained that while he’s paid federal GST on weed sold through his dispensaries, he hasn’t paid PST to the province. That’s because authorities consider cannabis sold through Vancouver storefronts to be medicinal, and medications are exempt from PST. Briere said if a new Liberal government permits the sale of recreational marijuana, those sales would be subject to PST, and that would translate into millions of dollars in new money for the provinces.

“I alone have paid over $200,000 in GST on marijuana,” he said. “Hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of time, and we’ll continue to add to that.”

In the Liberals’ policy paper, it’s calculated that legalizing marijuana will bring in $4 billion in government revenue each year. In addition, an older special senate committee report, from 2002, estimates between $300 and $500 million spent on law enforcement and the justice system annually could be saved by legalizing cannabis. Meanwhile, the Liberals project implementing a new regulatory scheme will carry a price tag of just $65 million over five years.

In a telephone interview, Joyce Murray, the re-elected Liberal MP for Vancouver Quadra, was reluctant to predict what tangible form legal marijuana sales might take. She said the initial emphasis will be on consultation and discussions with the provinces and municipal governments.

“What’s important is the principles,” she said. “And the principles are to prevent under-age access to marijuana as well as to stabilize the safety of the product.”

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. He noted legalizing cannabis can lead to increases of reported use among youth, but emphasized that’s not an inevitable outcome.

“From a public health standpoint, look to the successes we’ve had with tobacco regulation,” he said. “We’ve seen an incremental decrease in the use of tobacco among young people. And I think that is a responsible framework to use.”

Emery warned that Trudeau hasn’t acted on the marijuana file yet.

She stressed that a number of players will not be jockeying for influence over how new regulations take shape. She said those could include reform advocates, health watchdogs, industry stakeholders, and representatives and lobbyists for potential competitors to recreational marijuana such as pharmaceutical corporations and beer and liquor retailers.

Emery also emphasized that today, police across Canada still have the authority arrest anybody caught with a joint.

“The Harper legacy of prohibition will continue for some time,” she said. “And now the Liberals will have to make sure they don’t over-regulate.”

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This article was published in print and online at Straight.com on October 21, 2015.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Justin Trudeau: Liberal government would look at overturning convictions for marijuana crimes

Liberal party leader Justin Trudeau has promised to modernize Canadian marijuana laws if he's elected as prime minister this October. Travis Lupick photo.
Liberal party leader Justin Trudeau has promised to modernize Canadian marijuana laws if he’s elected as prime minister this October. Travis Lupick photo.

Canadians sitting in prison or stuck with a criminal record for crimes related to marijuana have a reason to vote Liberal in this October’s federal election.

At an August 19 campaign stop in Vancouver, prime ministerial hopeful Justin Trudeau reiterated a campaign promise to legalize cannabis for recreational purposes. He then went one step further, adding that after a Liberal government is elected and has reversed laws that criminalize marijuana, it will begin discussing what should happen with people who have been charged for transgressions that the country no longer considers criminal.

“That’s something that we’ll be looking into as we move forward,” he said, answering a question from the Georgia Straight. “There has been many situations over history when laws come in that overturn previous convictions and there will be a process for that that we will set up in a responsible way.”

Trudeau initially took the question as an opportunity to criticize Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative government’s tough-on-crime record on marijuana.

“One of the things that we’ve seen is that Mr. Harper’s approach on drugs is actually financing gun runners and street crimes,” he said. “Mr. Harper has failed in his drug policy. 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. It is time that we did that. It is time that Canada adjusted to the reality that controlling and regulating marijuana is a way of both protecting our kids, protecting the public, and ensuring that we are not financing gangs to millions and millions of dollars. And that is what we are committed to and that’s what we’ll get cracking on when we form a government.”

The federal NDP led by Thomas Mulcair has said it supports decriminalizing marijuana and, if elected, will consult with the provinces on the possibility of further reforms.

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This article was originally published at Straight.com on August 19, 2015.

Documents show B.C. Ministry of Justice determined to stay out of marijuana debate

The office of B.C. Justice Minister and Attorney General Suzanne Anton has repeatedly declined the Straight's request for interviews on the subject of marijuana. Province of British Columbia photo.
The office of B.C. Justice Minister and Attorney General Suzanne Anton has repeatedly declined the Straight’s request for interviews on the subject of marijuana. Province of British Columbia photo.

Prominent marijuana activist Dana Larsen says documents released in response to a freedom-of-information request show the government of British Columbia is bending over backward to avoid taking positions on issues related to cannabis.

B.C.’s top doctors place fentanyl deaths in the context of prohibition

Police warn that pills sold on the street as OxyContin can contain dangerous amounts of a synthetic opiate that’s 50 to 100 times more toxic than morphine.
Police warn that pills sold on the street as OxyContin can contain dangerous amounts of a synthetic opiate that’s 50 to 100 times more toxic than morphine.

It is not safe to use street drugs in Metro Vancouver this summer. That’s the message from police following another rash of overdoses related to the synthetic opiate fentanyl.

And part of the reason for that is prohibition-style drug laws that keep illicit substances beyond the reach of regulations that could save lives, health authorities told the Georgia Straight.

In a telephone interview, Const. Brian Montague emphasized that a problem once confined to heroin addicts now concerns recreational drug users of every sort.

“These are teenagers, husbands, wives, and family people with jobs,” the Vancouver Police Department spokesperson said.

Montague explained that authorities are finding fentanyl, a drug anywhere from 50 to 100 times more toxic than morphine, mixed with and sold as cocaine, methamphetamine, and ecstasy, and in fake pharmaceuticals such as pills labelled as OxyContin.

Montague’s warning follows the August 3 death of Jack Bodie, a 17-year-old boy who was found unconscious in an East Vancouver park after he took fentanyl sold in the form of a green pill. Bodie died later in hospital, while a 16-year-old friend narrowly avoided the same fate. Before that, on July 31, a 31-year-old North Vancouver man died of another overdose in which fentanyl is suspected. And on July 20, a North Vancouver couple in their early 30s died in their home after taking fentanyl. They left behind a two-year-old son.

In discussing these deaths, some of the province’s top health officials told the Straight they are open to unconventional methods to manage drug-use risks. Going further, they placed deaths linked to fentanyl in the context of prohibition, saying that existing drug laws are at least partly responsible for avoidable fatalities.

“We are in a situation where these drugs are prohibited,” said B.C.’s top doctor, Perry Kendall. “It is not helping. People are still taking them.”

In a separate interview, Dr. Mark Lysyshyn, a medical health officer for Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), suggested overdose deaths could be avoided if illicit drug sales could be raised from the shadows.

“This is definitely a problem that a legal, regulated drug market could solve,” he said. “A legal, regulated drug market doesn’t solve every problem associated with substance use, but it does solve this particular problem where there is a drug contaminating the drug supply. We don’t see that in the area of prescription medicines because that is a regulated market.”

The same argument was made by Jane Buxton, harm-reduction lead for the B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC).

“Because it’s an unregulated market, people don’t know what the substance is in the drug they are taking,” she said. “If we had a regulated market, we would know what was in the drugs.”

None of the interviewees favoured full legalization of hard drugs, but rather a nuanced version of decriminalization that would involve heavy regulation. Buxton named Portugal as a working example, while Kendall pointed to New Zealand.

A July 12 BCCDC bulletin stated that a provincewide study found 29 percent of participants tested positive for fentanyl, and of those drug users, 73 percent said they did not consume fentanyl knowingly. It noted that the portion of B.C. overdose deaths tied to fentanyl jumped from five percent in 2012 to 25 percent in 2014.

On specific measures, Montague said the VPD is also open to less traditional policies that could help prevent deaths linked to fentanyl. For example, he said, police would not oppose drug-testing sites like those deployed at some music festivals.

“We’re not naive,” Montague explained. “The police can stand here forever until we’re blue in the face and tell people not to use drugs, but we know people will use drugs.…So if people are going to use drugs, we would much rather have them use them safely than die as a result of an overdose.”

He stressed, however, that he has concerns about the limitations that drug testing can involve.

Lysyshyn noted that the Downtown Eastside has struggled with an influx of fentanyl for several years. He recalled one particularly challenging weekend, in October 2014, when Vancouver’s supervised-injection facility, Insite, recorded dozens of overdoses that were later linked to fentanyl. Lysyshyn emphasized that not one of those incidents ended in a death.

“People who live in the Downtown Eastside, even though that is the neighbourhood where you see the most overdoses, we are not seeing the most deaths there,” he said.

Lysyshyn pointed to data from Insite and B.C.’s take-home naloxone (a drug used to counter opioid overdoses) program that proves such harm-reduction initiatives save lives. With those initiatives deemed a success in the Downtown Eastside, Lysyshyn suggested there’s no reason variations wouldn’t work in other communities around the Lower Mainland.

This article originally appeared in print and online at Straight.com on August 5, 2015.

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Johann Hari’s Chasing the Scream looks to Vancouver for a start to the end of the war on drugs

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On the cover of Johann Hari’s Chasing the Scream is a man in the shadows holding a pipe and a lighter to his face. The camera is angled up toward the trees and sky behind him. To most people, it’s a shot that could have been taken anywhere. But to residents of Vancouver, it’s an image that will likely look familiar. It’s Gastown, where one of the most affluent areas of the city blends into a neighbourhood best-known for drug addiction.

There is a lot in Hari’s 2015 book about prohibition and the drug war that will feel familiar to Vancouver readers. Hari spends more than 50 of the book’s 300 pages in our quiet city.

With fascination and compassion, he recounts the stories of some of the Downtown Eastside’s best-known characters, unearthing intimate details that even some seasoned Vancouver reporters might be surprised to learn.

The life of the late Bud Osborn—who passed away in May 2014—is recounted, beginning as far back as the Insite founder’s childhood in Toledo, Ohio. Osborn’s early experiences with family trauma are tied to his later struggles with alcohol and then heroin addiction. And those in turn are tied to his days in the Downtown Eastside, where he went on to pioneer harm-reduction programs and eventually help get North America’s first and only supervised-injection facility off the ground.

Portland Hotel Society cofounder Liz Evans is interviewed about her time as a young nurse. She pushed for a new kind of social housing in the Downtown Eastside where tenants were guaranteed a room they could keep regardless of day-to-day struggles with addiction or a mental illness. (Today, the City of Vancouver calls this “housing first” and places it at the centre of strategies to reduce street homelessness.)

Hari also gives considerable space to Bruce Alexander, a psychologist and adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University. Alexander once elicited scoffs for challenging widely accepted theories related to chemical addictions. His innovative research has since changed the ways we understand fundamental concepts about the disease, Hari writes (and recently discussed in Vancouver during a TED talk last June).

Finally, there is Dr. Gabor Maté, a physician who was once a fixture in the Downtown Eastside and whose work obviously had a great influence on Hari.

“I find myself walking in circles through the Downton Eastside after one of my conversations with Gabor, past addicts who are half collapsed on the street,” Hari writes. “They are wearing the exaggerated stage makeup of the street prostitute, or hawking drugs or random items they have discovered in dumpsters—old VHS tapes and half-broken shoes. They shout and holler, at me, and at the world.

“I picture the look of judgement on the faces of people who stumble into this neighbourhood by mistake. I can see them now. The people from stable families, who glance at addicts and shake their head and say, ‘I would never do that to myself.’ I feel an urge to stop them and wave Gabor’s statistics in their face and say—Don’t you see? You wouldn’t do this to yourself because you don’t have to. You never had to learn to cope with more pain than you could bear.”

Hari presents the city as a progressive example of how other regions might take their first steps toward legalization. One not as far along as Portugal or Uruguay, but a city ahead of any other in North America.

“Vancouver had given me an itchy sense of hope,” he writes as he ends his time here. Optimism might not be the feeling many take away from a walk through the Downtown Eastside. But Chasing the Scream is a work that flips a lot of notions on their heads.

It’s a thoroughly researched takedown of just about every argument there is in support of the war on drugs. At the core of Hari’s case is one simple point: even the most addictive of illicit drugs are more harmful to people when they remain illegal.

Driven almost entirely by anecdotal narratives and in-depth character profiles, Chasing the Scream tells the story of the drug war as it plays out on the ground.

He begins with the cop, the robber, and the addict caught between them.

There’s Harry Anslinger, a Prohibition-era officer of the U.S. Treasury Department who Hari presents as the prototype for fanatical executors of the drug war. His opponent is Arnold Rothstein, a ruthless and brilliant New York gangster who caught on early to the potential for wealth and power created by a government ban on something so many people desire. Billy Holiday is the tragic consequence of the system created by those opposing sides. It isn’t heroin that defeats her but authorities’ persecution of her addiction to the drug.

From there, Hari hops around the globe, from blood-filled streets in Ciudad Juárez to a prison where women are locked in solitary confinement in the desert of Arizona to government-funded rehabilitation programs in Portugal.

There are omissions. There is scant attention paid to politics or even Washington’s most influential players in the war on drugs. Former U.S. presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, for example, barely receive a mention. The war’s greatest villains, such as Pablo Escobar and Manuel Noriega, are similarly ignored. Racial elements also receive less attention than they deserve, though on that topic, Hari refers readers to Michelle Alexander and her exceptional 2010 book The New Jim Crow (a work that cannot be recommended highly enough).

But what Hari does cover with Chasing the Scream, he covers exceptionally well. It’s a book with the power to change entrenched views and policies that reads so quickly I could hardly put it down.

It’s also worth noting that Hari is realistic. He’s looked at the data and accepts that the use of some drugs will increase after legalization. (Drug use, but not necessarily harmful drug use, as he goes on to explain.) It also might be telling that he describes Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside with such positivity; perhaps that should serve as a warning that ending the drug war will involve measures not always so easy to stomach.

This article was originally published at Straight.com on July 18, 2015.

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