COUNCIL SHUTS OUT DRUG EQUIPMENT

Langley City Council has cracked down on the sale of drug paraphernalia.

Despite the urging from the B.C. Civil Liberties Association for
Langley City residents to show their concern over two new drug
paraphernalia bylaws, one of the proposals sailed through final
reading Monday night with no comment from the public.

Langley City's zoning bylaw was changed to include the prohibition of
the sale of drug paraphernalia, which is considered to be "all
equipment, products, and materials of any kind which are used or
designed for use in smoking, inhaling, ingesting, injecting,
cultivating, growing, harvesting, manufacturing, compounding,
converting, producing, processing, preparing, testing, analyzing,
packaging, repackaging, storing, containing, concealing, or
introducing into the body a controlled substance," in the City.

While a public hearing was called on the issue, and a number of
people sat in the audience at Council's Monday night meeting, there
were no comments made and the bylaw passed.

Councillor Jack Arnold, who previously attempted to put forward an
amendment to take out the words "used or" in the above definition,
was absent from the meeting.

Council also made a move towards regulating the sale of drug
paraphernalia currently thought to be sold in several downtown stores
in the City.

"There are about four sites in the City [selling drug
paraphernalia]," said deputy city clerk Tracy Arthur.

Because the stores had been selling the items before the new zoning
bylaw came into effect, Arthur said, the City can't force them to stop.

Those selling drug paraphernalia, however, will be made to get a Drug
Paraphernalia Dealer's Licence for $1,000, if the second bylaw is
fully approved.

The bylaw's second reading from the May 8 Council meeting was first
revoked in order to make a small change.

While the City is still requiring shop owners to keep a registry of
every sale of any drug paraphernalia, which includes name, address,
birth date, type of identification provided, purchase date and item
purchased, and price, the municipality will no longer require it to
be kept electronically.

"It was felt by our staff that that might be an onerous requirement
of the bylaw," Mayor Peter Fassbender told the Langley Advance.

Fassbender said staff raised their concerns to Council, noting that
not every shop owner would have access to a computer.

The slightly changed bylaw passed second and third reading with no discussion.