HAPPY HIPPY HANDED HEAVE-HO When the highly successful crystal meth symposium in Williams Lake concluded on February 3, one of its recommendations was for the community to set up a meth-watch program. That's a program to monitor the sale of products used in the manufacture of crystal meth. Drug counselor Bob Hughes from the Phoenix Centre in Kamloops, also encouraged the community to convince local retailers not to sell glass pipes, which he said are exclusively used for bad drugs like crystal meth and crack cocaine. Last week a local retail business, the Happy Hippy Hemp Shop, that sells glass pipes, bongs, rolling papers, and roach clips designed for smoking pot, has been asked to vacate its rented space on Oliver Street. Happy Hippy store owner, Mike Dery, says his landlord, Chuck Delainey, told him he had until the end of the month to find a new location for his business. At first Dery figured he was getting persecuted because he suspected Salvation Army Captain Rick Zelinsky had put pressure on his landlord to have him evicted. He says Zelinsky came in several times and told him he didn't like him running a business that promoted the use of drugs. Dery reacted by drafting up a petition calling for the "end of religious discrimination" of free enterprise and stating a "zealot" was applying pressure to close his business down. Without naming Zelinsky, the petition says a "local member of the community has taken up a crusade to have the Happy Hippy shut down." Dery argues this is just one man's opinion. "That same man says nothing while liquor stores and bars operate and while other companies continue to sell the same products as the Happy Hippy." But when Delainey came and spoke to him personally, Dery's anger toward Zelinsky subsided somewhat. "Chuck said he made the decision on his own that my business will reflect badly on the clientele of other potential business rentals. Chuck said he made a personal choice and doesn't want to scare away other renters." Zelinsky admits he saw red when he saw the Happy Hippy posters on hydro poles around the downtown, sporting a big marijuana leaf. He says he tore down the posters near the Salvation Army headquarters on Borland Street and took them in to talk to Dery. "We deal with people who struggle with addiction every single day. I have a real hard time with a business that receives a business license to sell paraphernalia for illegal drugs." What makes him doubly mad is that Dery also sells paint ball supplies, which are geared toward a younger clientele of people. "It's immoral to marry paintball supplies with crack pipes," he insists. Zelinsky says selling pot pipes and crack pipes amounts to the same thing. "The last I knew, pot was not a legal drug." He says drugs aren't the only thing that irks him. When Lucky's Bingo was located across the street from the Salvation Army, he found it frustrating to watch the people from the soup line walk over to the bingo line. Zelinsky wants Williams Lake to raise the bar higher than what's merely legal. "Do we in Williams Lake want to hold up a higher standard in our community, and say 'no' to certain activities? We can make that standard. There are cities in this country that do that." In his defense Dery insists he doesn't stock the most common items used as crack pipes. "I will not stock them," he states emphatically. "I'm an advocate of marijuana which should be regulated like alcohol." He says crack and marijuana are two different cultures. He says he's personally been cleaned out by "unfortunate" crack users and doesn't' support the use of any hard drugs. "I'm here to raise awareness and support a culture I believe in."
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