CaractacusPotts

Two years after an attacker shot five volunteers before a Black Lives Matter march in Portland, Oregon, killing a 60-year-old woman and leaving one of her young friends paralyzed, a new visual investigation of the attack reveals that the assailant tried to provoke a stand-your-ground situation, daring three women to fight him, before suddenly opening fire when they refused.

As a resident of Duncan I’m distressed about the rise in hateful rhetoric from groups such as Canadian Citizens Against Crime and Public Drug Abuse. Founder Travis Rankin has been quoted in several media outlets in the last few months, including this one, and now the rally the group is planning for Friday could have serious and dangerous consequences for our most vulnerable community members.

This protest is based in fear, not in facts. Rankin and his group equate drug use and homelessness with crime. Evidence demonstrates that unhoused people, people who use substances and people who experience mental illness are significantly more likely to be targets of crime, rather than perpetrators.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/15559328

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/15559325

Vancouver Police Department (VPD) data indicates that seizures of drugs by officers in quantities at or below 2.5 grams increased by 34 per cent in the six months after British Columbia implemented its “decriminalization” model, when compared with the six months prior.

Amid a worsening drug toxicity crisis that has killed over 13,000 people since April 2016, the B.C. government implemented a “decriminalization” framework for certain drugs in quantities at or under 2.5 grams on Jan. 31, 2023, in coordination with the federal government. The federal government granted the province an exemption to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA). The model has a notable number of exceptions and disclaimers.

Vancouver Police Department (VPD) data indicates that seizures of drugs by officers in quantities at or below 2.5 grams increased by 34 per cent in the six months after British Columbia implemented its “decriminalization” model, when compared with the six months prior.

Amid a worsening drug toxicity crisis that has killed over 13,000 people since April 2016, the B.C. government implemented a “decriminalization” framework for certain drugs in quantities at or under 2.5 grams on Jan. 31, 2023, in coordination with the federal government. The federal government granted the province an exemption to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA). The model has a notable number of exceptions and disclaimers.