POLICE MAKE A ONE GRAM POSSESSION BUST IN HEMPBC

On Friday June 27 at 4pm two Vancouver Police officers came into the Hemp BC store at 307 West Hastings and arrested a customer for possession of about one gram of marijuana. The customer had been smoking from the "store bong" at the time, which was also seized.

It has been common for people to smoke marijuana in Hemp BC since the store first opened in April of 1995.

REPEATED POLICE HARASSMENT5 OF HEMP BC

This arbitrary arrest was just the latest in a series of recent harassing police actions directed against Hemp BC.

Intimidating customers

Vancouver Police had come into the store both days before they came in and made their single arrest. The first two visits were to the soon-to-open Cannabis Cafe, apparently just to intimidate the manager and staff. Since that didn't work, they seem to have chosen to intimidate Hemp BC customers instead.

Seize the potties!

The Vancouver Police also took it upon themselves to intimidate a portable toilet supplier and stop him from renting toilets to Hemp BC for the July 1 Cannabis Day Celebration.

They somehow figured out who Hemp BC was going to be renting portable toilets from, and then called them on two separate occasions to warn them that the police would seize any portable toilets brought to the Cannabis Day celebration at Sunset Beach.

HEMP BC IS GOOD FOR THE COMMUNITY

Hemp BC employs 32 people and has had a very positive influence upon its surrounding community. Hemp BC has renovated and increased the value of every piece of property it has rented in what was otherwise a depressed community. Surrounding businesses agree that Hemp BC has brought many people and greater prosperity into the area.

During renovation and construction for the creation of the Cannabis Cafe, Hemp BC strived succesfully to meet all necessary permits and licenses.

It has also been made quite clear that marijuana will not be sold at the Cafe, but rather that it will simply provide those who wish to consume cannabis with a comfortable and healthy environment in which to do so.

IS THIS A WARNING?

The last time that the police entered Hemp BC and arrested customers for possession of minor amounts of cannabis was in December 1995. One month after this "warning" Hemp BC was raided in earnest.

During that raid, police seized over $100,000 in merchandise and marijuana seeds, and Marc Emery spent the night in jail, along with three of his employees. Marc is still awaiting trial on the charge of trafficking in seeds, against which he is mounting a constitutional challenge.

THE PEOPLE OF VANCOUVER SUPPORT HEMP BC

Philip Owen supports stepping up the failed War on Drugs, and has been goading Vancouver Police into increasing their enforcement of drug possession charges and other minor infractions in Downtown Vancouver.

The Vancouver cannabis community is also concerned about the impending instatement of Bruce Chambers as Vancouver's Chief of Police. Chambers was formerly the Chief of Police for Thunder Bay, where he presided over a raid upon a small Thunder Bay store called Kaiyun in December of 1995, and seized $4000 in bongs and pipes.

ONGOING PICKETS AT CITY HALL AND POLICE STATIONS

The people of Vancouver appreciate the presence of Hemp BC in the city, and they do not support police harassment of peaceful marijuana smokers.

Mayor Owen and the incoming Chief of Police need to be clearly shown that the people of Vancouver do not want the police to spend their time harassing portable toilet renters and marijuana smokers.

There will be ongoing pickets in support of Hemp BC at City Hall and the Main and Cambie street police stations, beginning Monday, June 30. We invite all supporters to attend and participate in these pickets. Contact Hemp BC at 681-4620 for more information on how to take part.

WE NEED YOUR HELP

Hemp BC needs public support now more than ever. If you live in Vancouver and you support our cause then then is no greater gift you can give us now than an hour of your time.

Spend that hour calling Mayor Philip Owen, as well as City Council and the Vancouver Police, to express your displeasure at their attitude and actions. You could also spend some of that hour writing a letter to the media about police harassment of Hemp BC, as well as calling in to radio and television talk shows to express your feelings about marijuana prohibition. We also invite you to participate in the on-going picket line at City Hall or at either of the downtown police stations.

CONTACT VANCOUVER CITY COUNCIL

You can reach Mayor Philip Owen as follows:
email: mayorowen@city.vancouver.bc.ca
phone: 873-7621; fax: 873-7685

All city councillors share the same fax line: 873-7750
You can reach all city councillors by email at:
mayorandcouncil@city.vancouver.bc.ca

Vancouver's 10 city councillors phone numbers are as follows:

Don Bellamy 873-7240; Daniel Lee 873-7246; Nancy Chiavario 873-7248; Don Lee 873-7247; Jennifer Clarke 873-7244; Gordon Price 873-7243; Alan Herbert 873-7241; George Puil 873-7249; Lynne Kennedy 873-7245; Sam Sullivan 873-7245

City Hall's postal address is:
Vancouver City Hall
453 West 12th Avenue
Vancouver, B.C. V5Y 1V4

CONTACT THE VANCOUVER POLICE DEPARTMENT

email: vpd@city.vancouver.bc.ca
phone: 665-3535; fax: 257-3716
312 Main Street, V6A 2T2

What follows is a press release from Vancouver Mayor Philip Owen's office on June 4, 1997

MAYOR OWEN ANNOUNCES ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN

Canada's drug trade is out of control. In Vancouver, property crime is up, home invasions victimizing the elderly are up and car thefts are up.

Vancouver Mayor Philip Owen today launched the City's Anti-Drug Action Campaign intended to raise public awareness and pressure the provincial and federal governments, and the justice system to strengthen laws and hand down stiffer sentences to convicted drug criminals.

In addition, Mayor Owen is calling for more emphasis on prevention and treatment, noting the critical need for drug detox and recovery programs in Vancouver and around the province.

"We have a serious drug problem and we must get serious about fighting it," Mayor Owen said. "It is completely unacceptable that youth drug use is up, completely unacceptable that 70 to 90 per cent of crimes in Canada are related to drug or alcohol abuse, and completely unacceptable that we seem to continue to put up with it."

The City's Anti-Drug Action calls for government, the justice system, police, community and the school system to take specific actions:

Government

1. Simplify and strengthen legislation to more aggressively fight the drug trade.
2. Ensure that the millions of dollars recovered under proceeds of crime legislation goes to fight drugs and create treatment centres rather than to general revenue.
3. Seek advice from the judiciary about how current legislation hampers the justice system in fighting drugs.

   Justice System

4. Hand down stiffer sentences and larger fines to convicted drug criminals.
5. Support police in their efforts to increase search and seizure powers under the Narcotic Control Act so that searches of drug traffickers' vehicles can be conducted without a warrant.

   Police

6. Continue to push for stronger laws and stiffer sentences for convicted drug criminals.
7. Increase community policing efforts to prevent drug use and trafficking.

   Community

8. Lobby for stronger laws and support more active enforcement of laws against drug use and trafficking.
9. Support better reporting of criminal activity using a "Crime Stoppers" model.

   Schools

10. Increase efforts to prevent drug use by supporting anti-drug education programs.
11. Work with police to more aggressively enforce the law and fight drugs around schools.

Mayor Owen is planning to meet with Canada's Minister of Justice, Allan Rock, to discuss these Anti-Drug Action resolutions after pursuing them at the Annual Convention of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities on June 7, 1997.