22 shootings in Surrey/Delta over the past 6 weeks
 

Ending the "culture of silence" : Surrey forum on guns and gangs encourages public to speak up | (CKNW AM) AM980

There was a forum about this issue in Surrey last night, hundreds of people turned up. The last guy killed was allegedly not involved in drugs or gangs at all - mistaken identity?

What can be done?

Re: 22 shootings in Surrey/Delta over the past 6 weeks
 

Go down the highway and ask Abbotsford for help? They have first hand experience with gangs and violence associated with it, and they seem to be doing a decent job at keeping the violence at bay, or maybe their crack down ran the gangsters to Surrey?

Not sure I'd ever want to live in Surrey, place has never appealed to me.

Re: 22 shootings in Surrey/Delta over the past 6 weeks
 

Haven't they been asking that question in Gangcouver for some years now?

What ever came of the Bacon Brothers?

Re: 22 shootings in Surrey/Delta over the past 6 weeks
 

Dead or in jail I believe they are.

I know 1 is dead and 1 in prison, the 3rd not sure.

Re: 22 shootings in Surrey/Delta over the past 6 weeks
 

Three options:

a) we (a collective we) can stop buying drugs, or
b) we legalize them, or
c) we carry on with the futile and failed "war on drugs."

a) would be the best solution but will never happen. b) is the next best and, I think, will happen eventually but until then c) we carry on allowing young men to kill each other for a few bucks.

Edit: there is an option d) which I believe is what is happening in Abbotsford. The police tell the HA that they have to keep order amongst the lower level gangs and, in return, will conveniently look in the wrong direction every now and again. Not great, but its better than c).

Re: 22 shootings in Surrey/Delta over the past 6 weeks
 

i'm with you on b) JBE

Re: 22 shootings in Surrey/Delta over the past 6 weeks
 

not sure that the guy killed in Surrey was totally innocent ................

the police said he was known to them, and that he knew some of the ones involved in the shootings

It is his family who are saying he is innocent and had nothing to do with drugs

So was he innocent, just knew some wrong people and was killed by mistake, or was he more involved than his family knew


As to what can be done ..............

I like JBE's idea b)

Re: 22 shootings in Surrey/Delta over the past 6 weeks
 

It's not that I think it's a bad idea.

But surely legalizing all drugs is not the smartest move.

Re: 22 shootings in Surrey/Delta over the past 6 weeks
 

Fourth option: Canada could stop being a bunch of racist pigs and afford them proper opportunities so it would stamp this short of behaviour/reaction at its root cause.

Re: 22 shootings in Surrey/Delta over the past 6 weeks
 

This solution fills me with dread. What sort of society will we create? Most laws are designed to cater for the lowest common denominator, to protect them from themselves. I don't think legalizing certain drugs is going to make for a better society.

Some specific experience I have, owning a business in an environment (ski resort) that has a youth/drug culture, is that drugs affect people's ability to be reliable employees and their judgement at work suffers hugely.

Alcohol/hangovers are disruptive enough, add recreational drugs into the mix and it makes running a business a shit show. Firing staff is all well and good, but it doesn't help an employer operate a business efficiently.

At the moment there's a certain degree of discretion exercised using recreational drugs, despite the smell almost permanently wafting around the village. Make it legal, out in the open and the associated behaviour that goes with it, and what message does it send to the next generation?

Re: 22 shootings in Surrey/Delta over the past 6 weeks
 

I suppose when it comes to pot, we can just wait and see what happens over the next few years in Washington state and Colorado seeing as that particular drug is now legal there.

I have no issue with pot, seems no worse then alcohol, and smells about the same as tobacco, if people wan't to smoke the crap let them.


Hard drugs, not sure what the best option is, if they are illegal it runs the money underground through gangs, if they are legal then will more people end up using them?

It's the hard drugs I am on the fence about.

Re: 22 shootings in Surrey/Delta over the past 6 weeks
 

Fifth option: Allow the public to carry concealed firearms so they can protect themselves.

Re: 22 shootings in Surrey/Delta over the past 6 weeks
 

That we are free individuals who can do what we choose with our own bodies?

Recreational drugs are freely available to anyone who wants them without restriction apart from ability to pay. I don't see much in the way of discretion in their use. Legalization does not remove the ability to pay barrier but it allows some modest controls (such as restricting sales to minors). As I said, ideally no one would want to take recreational drugs - but they do. An equivalent to the Liquor Board is less worse (sorry) than the current situation and will raise some tax revenue as well.

Re: 22 shootings in Surrey/Delta over the past 6 weeks
 

there are now over 80 medicinal marijuana shops in Vancouver city limits, let alone those that are elsewhere in the province!

We have 3, in the same block, on our major shopping street ............. which consists of small individual businesses, with one large Safeway. No malls, strip or otherwise.

But now, 3 medicinal marijuana stores and one already existing small individually owned pharmacy who is apparently dispensing methadone.


All the marijuana stores are basically operating legally ............... they don't have any business licenses because Vancouver doesn't yet have a category under which they can be licensed.

Nor is anyone regulating where they are getting their product, as that is not regulated properly


I gather from news reports that the shootings in Surrey involve gangs of 2 main immigrant groups, and that they are low level dealers, mainly in weed and crack.



but, yes .............. it is the hard drugs that would absolutely concern me if they were made legal.

Re: 22 shootings in Surrey/Delta over the past 6 weeks
 

Why?