STORE CAN HELP DISCOURAGE DRUG USE, SAYS NEIGHBOUR

But Retailer Won't Stop Selling Items Because They Could Be Used For
Drugs, Says Shopkeeper

Neighbours say a Nanaimo store selling paraphernalia used by crack
addicts is only making a bad problem worse.

Norm Abbey, who lives very near to the Spanglish store at the corner
of Victoria Road and Milton Street, said the sales are part of a
wider problem that results in needles and condoms left on the street
and in people's yards, prostitutes plying their trade, drug dealing
and open drug use.

"It impacts negatively on our safety," said Abbey.

Asked for a pipe, the clerk at the store said "a pen or pyrex?"

A 10-centimetre pyrex tube cost $7.50, and a pen in a transparent
glass tube cost $5.

Spanglish store manager Judhit Adams said she also has concerns about
drug activities in the area, but denied any wrongdoing.

"I'm never going to stop selling anything, I don't sell anything
illegal," said Adams.

She denied the "pyrex or pen" were sold knowing they were for drug use.

She demonstrated how various items in the store could be adapted for
smoking crack. She also said she sells baking soda, rubbing alcohol
and butane for legitimate use, though all are also used in the drug trade.

"The people want it, it's not my business," she said.

Abbey is concerned that photos of alleged drug dealing and use
outside the store have now showed up on the Internet, posted to a local blog.

"This should be a concern for council because it's on the Internet
already," he said.

While being interviewed by the Daily News someone walked into Abbey's
apartment uninvited and without knocking. A young man, somewhat
disoriented and dishevelled, said he had mistaken Abbey's suite for a friend's.