little bits of me: So what exactly is the big deal?

9.02.2004

So what exactly is the big deal?

No pun intended.

It is telling that over the course of eight months the only person in East Vancouver who has had an issue with the Da Kine cafe selling marijuana is Eileen Mosca, head of Grandview-Woodlands Community Policing Centre. Even she, apparently, didn't feel strongly enough about the issue to contact the police to make a formal complaint, which I find even more striking considering the Grandview-Woodlands Community Policing Centre is funded in part by the VPD. She says,

"We have a lot of people going in there smoking getting high and then
wandering up and down the drive. And I don't see why the city sanctions it."

To this I would reply, "we have a lot of people going into their homes, smoking, getting high and then wandering up and down the drive." As far as the city sanctioning it, I think Ms. Mosca needs to wake up to the same reality that a majority of the public, likely including some members of city council, has already woken up to: prohibition doesn't work and maybe it is better that people buy from a reliable source (let's face it the owners of Da Kine have a business to run) than from a stranger on the street.

Mosca also wonders what drug message the shop is sending to the 1,200 students at nearby Britannia High School.

My understanding is that Da Kine was selling marijuana only to those 19 years of age or older which is the same benchmark set for purchasing alcohol and one year higher than for purchasing tobacco products, both of which have a far greater negative impact on health and safety than marijuana and both are freely available on the same street within blocks of Da Kine. So what is that message?

posted by jmd ¶ Thursday, September 02, 2004

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