cannabisnews.com: U.S. Drug Police Plan B.C. Office










  U.S. Drug Police Plan B.C. Office

Posted by FoM on June 30, 2001 at 10:37:32 PT
By Chad Skelton, Vancouver Sun  
Source: Vancouver Sun 

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is planning to open an office in Vancouver as early as next year, in part to coordinate investigations with local police of B.C.'s booming marijuana industry. A spokesman with the United States Embassy in Ottawa said Friday that the office -- the agency's first in Canada outside of Ottawa -- will likely be staffed by a supervisor and two special agents. 
"It will be a substantial office, not just a liaison office with one person," embassy spokesman Buck Shinkman said. In December, the DEA published an intelligence brief, BC Bud: Growth of the Canadian Marijuana Trade, that said the province's marijuana industry had become "a billion-dollar industry" and that "traffickers smuggle a significant portion of the Canadian harvest into the United States." Shinkman said the DEA office in Vancouver will work with Canadian police on combatting all areas of the drug trade, but added the marijuana industry is one of the key reasons for the Vancouver office. "You place your staff where there's the most business to be done," Shinkman said. Sergeant Mike Dunbar of the RCMP's drug enforcement branch said the Mounties already work closely with the DEA office in Blaine and he looks forward to the agency having a presence in Vancouver. "We've had a relationship with the DEA for some time," Dunbar said. "Many of our investigations are international in scope." But both Dunbar and Shinkman stressed the DEA officers in Vancouver will only be involved in gathering and sharing intelligence, and will not be conducting their own investigations north of the border. "They're not going to be operating as police officers here," Dunbar said. "They're not up here to conduct investigations," Shinkman agreed. "They're up here to cooperate in bilateral investigations. They don't do anything on their own." The DEA maintains 78 offices in 56 countries around the world. Most offices are attached to embassies. But a few countries, notably those in Central and South America, have two or more DEA offices. The DEA maintains the most offices -- eight -- in Mexico. With the Vancouver office, Canada will become one of only three western countries with DEA offices outside their capital (the other two are in Frankfurt, Germany and Milan, Italy). But Shinkman said plans for a DEA office in Vancouver have more to do with the close working relationship between U.S. and Canadian law enforcement than concerns about B.C. becoming a major source of drugs to the U.S. market. "It's a reflection of the ease with which the two law enforcement communities cooperate," he said. "It's not a reflection that this is a particularly bad area. But there is a problem on the border, or we wouldn't have people there." The RCMP also has officers posted abroad, including three offices in the U.S. in New York, Los Angeles and Miami. While the U.S. government is eager to crack down on the marijuana trade, several recent polls have shown British Columbians are deeply divided on the issue. Earlier this month, a national poll by Leger Marketing found 52.4 per cent of B.C. residents support the legalization of marijuana, compared to 46.8 per cent nationwide. Only Quebecers were more in favour of legalization, at 52.7 per cent. Even police in B.C. have taken a lenient approach to marijuana use. Statistics show only 17.2 per cent of all reported incidents of marijuana possession in B.C. lead to a charge, compared to a high of 70.8 per cent in Ontario. Even in Quebec, the province with the second-lowest rate of possession charges after B.C., 55.2 per cent of reported incidents end up in court. Most cases of marijuana possession in B.C. are handled outside the court system, usually through "no-case seizures" in which police seize and destroy the marijuana they find and write up a report, but do not recommend charges.Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)Author: Chad Skelton, Vancouver Sun Published: Saturday, June 30, 2001Copyright: The Vancouver Sun 2001Contact: sunletters pacpress.southam.caWebsite: http://www.vancouversun.com/Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmCannabisNews Articles - DEAhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/DEA.shtml

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Comment #15 posted by Cuzn Buzz on July 03, 2001 at 12:16:47 PT
ANNEXED
I see Canada has been annexed by the U.S..Boy, for an independant country you guys sure take a lot of crap.I suggest you tell Uncle Sam to mind his own business.Of course if you'd agree to take *ALL* the prohibitches.......
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Comment #14 posted by Binky on July 01, 2001 at 17:10:23 PT
Ya gotta be kiddin'
I wonder if any of the growers in BC will be bammed by late-night DEA hit squads, no arrests just destruction of property and liberty and a good shit kickin with a warning not to do again.I also have a tendency to believe that if alot of busts go down because of the involvement of these 2 enforcement agencies working in concert or if anyone is hurt or maimed the RCMP will end up with the blame making them very unpopularI wonder how the RCMP feel about boosting the WOD, and at what co$t.
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Comment #13 posted by kaptinemo on July 01, 2001 at 14:28:48 PT:
How do you know you're in a 3rd world country?
When you have Uncle running your Customs operations.A couple years ago, I went to The Bahamas as part of a vacation I won. The flight was uneventful, the arrival only partly confused (the airlines lost my bags...again, the swine) but what struck me the most? On the way home, I had to go through Customs. US Customs. Ordering passengers around. Opening and pawing through a Latina's suitcase (gee, I wonder why they did that and left me alone? Too 'whitebread' for them, I guess) without a single Bahamian around. Not a one. On Bahamian soil. Like the owned the place.Have a care, Canucks; that's how it starts. First a couple people 'assisting', then slowly there's more. And more. And still more. Until finally they are calling the shots - on your territory. Ordering you around. And generally making a mess of things.Is that what you want?
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Comment #12 posted by Dan Hillman on July 01, 2001 at 13:00:12 PT
great!
Can't wait 'til those DEA agents walk around downtown Vancouver a little and see/smell all the pot being smoked openly. 
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Comment #11 posted by rabblerouser on July 01, 2001 at 09:06:47 PT
plan colombia
I believe Plan Colombia is more than the South American country. 
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Comment #10 posted by freedom fighter on July 01, 2001 at 08:48:59 PT
Who gave the cowards permission?
What good would it do?It would cost thousand of $$ to maintain just one office. Meanwhile, BC Buds keeps on coming...It is time for a change!
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Comment #9 posted by Truth on July 01, 2001 at 05:42:46 PT
Enough already
Meagain you are so right. Missing people, murders, rapes, assaults, grand theft. These are crimes that actually take freedom away and harm innocent citizens. But don't be discouraged, because TODAY a new law takes effect in California. Prop. 36 passed in November, will put an end to some of the corruption (false arrests, meeting quotas, overzealous cops). The PIGS have less power now. This is a great day in California. We should all thank Mr. George Soros and the CA voters who made this possible. Thanks guys!
http://www.modbee.com/reports/levy/
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Comment #8 posted by dddd on July 01, 2001 at 01:07:17 PT
A Whole New Phase
Being threatened with Marijuana being legalized in Canada,and thetides turning in the states,,,,,the Pigs and Hogs of the U.S.Drug War Cartel,,are making a strategic move before the drug war is exposed....I'm surprizedand dissappointed that Canada even allowed this,but Uncle Sam is more evil andscary than the other mob.....Uncle Sams' mob made Canada an offer it couldntrefuse.....Achtung!!!DEA Uber Alles...dddd
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Comment #7 posted by the yellow texan on June 30, 2001 at 23:33:13 PT
Vietnam
McCaffrey thinks we lost Vietnam because of pot...i guess the marijuana stone is a huge threat to any military-industrial state for whatever reasons and obviously Vansterdam is a little too close for comfort.Long live Philadelphia Freedom!
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Comment #6 posted by Forest Gump on Crack on June 30, 2001 at 21:40:25 PT
Jesus H Christ!
Great, and I thought the US was invading us only subliminally. Now they are literally sending in the troops. I dont much look forward to visiting the great state of british columbia.
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Comment #5 posted by Doug on June 30, 2001 at 19:57:53 PT
This explains it
Now I see why the RCMP and local police have been recently cracking down on grow-ops in British Columbia -- they were getting heat from the DEA to tighten down the screws. And now with the DEA in town, the BC authorities will crack down even more. It's a sad day for Canada.
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Comment #4 posted by greenfox on June 30, 2001 at 19:36:20 PT
1984
Well, it's a few years late. Make no mistake, however- it's here! 1984, nay a day short, nay a day more. Don't worry. You can let it all out. Take double plus fun in the two minutes. -gf
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Comment #3 posted by J.R. Bob Dobbs on June 30, 2001 at 12:03:40 PT
Narc, Narc. Who's There? DEA. DEA who? DEA-th!
>>"They're not up here to conduct investigations," Shinkman agreed. "They're up here to cooperate in bilateral investigations. They don't do anything on their own."  And ask the Peruvian Air Force just WHY the US never does anything in a foreign country on its own any more... why, we'd better not forget our SCAPEGOATS!
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Comment #2 posted by Robbie on June 30, 2001 at 11:14:10 PT
DEA Land takes off to the Great White North
Somebody turn 'em away at the border!Damn the puritannical evangelism of our great supposedly church/state separated country. Leave Canada alone! Leave Colombia alone!
O'Brien in 2002
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Comment #1 posted by meagain on June 30, 2001 at 11:08:54 PT
Bullies of the world
Gee would they stop harrasing dope users and start crackin down on REAL crime. I don't think they got balls to fight real crime thats why they fight the drug war kinda like the bully on the playground in 3rd grade. They gotta pick on the weak and different people cause they don't have the kahunas to pick on anyone their own size.
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