On Wednesday December 4 the Vancouver Harm Reduction Club was busted. We still don't have all the details, so what follows is pretty much all we know so far. I'll follow this with another post which will have a recent Globe & Mail story about the Club.
I hope list members can contact the Globe and Mail and Vancouver papers with letters of support for the Harm Reduction Club. As usual, don't forget to include your name, mailing address and daytime phone number. Please cc me a copy of any letters you send.
Globe & Mail: letters@globeandmail.ca Vancouver Province: provedpg@ppress.wimsey.com Vancouver Sun: sunletters@ppress.wimsey.com Vancouver Echo: rshore@vanecho.com North Shore News: editor@nsnews.com Westender: westender@jumppoint.com Terminal City tcmag@vkool.comHarm Comes to the Harm Reduction Club
The Vancouver Police have decided to spread the badwill and raid the Harm Reduction Club (HRC), the marijuana buyer's club run in Vancouver by David Malmo-Levine. Guns drawn, the police searched the club's "smoke easy" headquarters and made several arrests.
Malmo-Levine was at the Cannabis Canada office at the time, and was requested to turn himself in by police under threat that the office of the magazine would be raided as well. Malmo-Levine called the media and turned himself in at 5pm in the presence of CBC and UTV cameras and other reporters. Malmo-Levine and several other club organizers were fingerprinted and spent the night in prison.
At the same time as the police were raiding the club, 3 young teenagers armed with handguns robbed a jewelry store in Vancouver. Police were not present.
By raiding the club, Vancouver police have shown their priorities in fighting crime; non-violent businesspersons are more of a threat to society than armed theives. This is a backward policy, and the noble Vancouver Police Department should be ashamed of their behavior.
From their website, their self-proclaimed function:
The Vancouver Police Department builds bridges and partnerships with each community, that together we may improve the quality of life and sense of safety for us all, ensuring peace and security through a sensitive, caring and creative police service.
The department has just burned their bridge with Vancouver's cannabis community, while neglecting to ensure the safety of the rest of the city.
More details should be forthcoming. The HRC is holding a meeting to decide the immediate future of the service.
Email the Vancouver Police Department at vpd@wimsey.com, phone (604)665-3535, or fax (604)257-3716. Messages and memberships for the Harm Reduction Club should go to (604)253-6357, email David Malmo-Levine at growpotkin@hempbc.com, but expect a delay to your email response.