Saturday, February 09, 2008

[vansterdam] drug capital of canada


Vancouver - heading the list of the world's most livable city?

Think again. Known locally as Vansterdam, it's the drug capital of the north, along with all the other goodies - violent crime, prostitution and so on:
"Vancouver is the drug capital of Canada,'' said Mariana Valverde, a professor of criminology at the University of Toronto., with the city's Downtown Eastside district known for illicit drug use, prostitution and violence. Vancouver is a magnet for suspects on the run because winters are mild in Canada's third-most-populous metropolitan area and it is a hub of drug abuse.

But there's hope. The city wants people to donate their frequent flier miles to catch the criminals:

The city is taking a cue from the 1997 Nicolas Cage movie about a planeload of convicts being transported to prison. The Vancouver Board of Trade is urging residents to donate frequent- flier miles so that people who are accused of crimes outside British Columbia can be returned to those provinces.

Vancouver has about 2,500 fugitives who are wanted on low- priority arrest warrants for crimes ranging from fraud to assault that were committed in other regions, police say. The suspects' jurisdictions aren't willing to spend the estimated C$2,500 ($2,480) it would take to fly them back.

"We're sending a message that fleeing to Vancouver is no longer a low-risk endeavor,'' said Bernie Magnan, an assistant managing director of the Vancouver Board of Trade who is responsible for the "Con Air'' Appeal.
So there it is. You too can give away your excruciatingly slowly earned flier miles to catch a loveable junkie next year.

Is JMB going to be this altruistic?

5 comments:

  1. Well despite all the negative things you have highlighted here Vancouver still is a great city to live, as you well know.
    Drug capital of Canada, yes, the mildest climate and a port city on the Pacific Rim ensure that, but violent it is not. The odd gang warfare (Asian) stirs things up, but not for ordinary people.

    Now what the Board of Trade is doing involved in such a stupid undertaking beats me. Too many meetings must have softened their collective heads. Even the airlines would probably not agree in any event.

    JMB is often very altruistic but she will pass on this one. Besides all of her airmiles are with Cathay Pacific which only goes to New York or the the East, not so useful for this "initiative".

    Do you know I had never heard the expression Vansterdam and had to google it. I don't know about everyone smoking marijuana, not to my knowledge, but Vancouver is a great supplier of the stuff to other parts. We have many grow-ops around the city which pop up and down as discovered and dismantled but the perpetrators never seem to be prosecuted.

    Where is JMB? Where are you? Not even a happy anniversary? I'm considering divorce, she says huffily.

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  2. What? Violence? Prostitution? Really? I'd like to see the statistics used to put these charges on this city. Marijuana use is true, but statistically pot attracts the least violence of any illicit drug, and alcohol attracts much more violence and sex.

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