The Vancouver Province and the Tyee are reporting that a Downtown Eastside “drug den” has been shut down and sold for $820,000 under the auspices of B.C.’s Civil Forfeiture Office. The building seized was the former Backpacker Inn in the 600-block Alexander Street.
The police claim they went after the building following complaints from the public and because of “victimization” of people in the DTES. “There were people that were being preyed upon by the drug dealers,” said Fincham. “This was a violent group of drug dealers that were resorting to extreme measures to enforce drug debts and encourage people to sell drugs for them.” Among those measures were shaving people’s heads. I'm glad they shut it down but this is nothing new.
The drug dealers selling outside the Carnegie centre are just as predatory. Strange how they would bust one but not the other. Strange how they have a chain link fence blocking the public from accessing the police station on Main Street right beside the Carnegie open air Drug Market. Perhaps this drug den was seized because it was outside the tolerance zone and the neighbors across the street were complaining about it. God knows the police won't touch the Black Door.
Only the absolutely naive or foolish could support a system that allows an anonymous bureaucrat(s) to seize ANYTHING without judicial process. When the fuck did I wake up in Nazi Germany? Where the hell is the media on this?
ReplyDeleteThat Tyee story gives the Backpackers Inn address as 7 W.Hastings St., which I believe is accurate. According to their account, no civil forfeiture is happening, but rather a voluntary sale of the building and attempted eviction of the tenants.
ReplyDeleteExcuse me, that sale was in 2008. That address is now The Beacon.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.endhomelessnessnow.ca/homelessness-and-mental-health/how-the-province-transformed-a-hastings-street-hotel/
Yes the Backpackers Inn used to be on Hastings then moved to Alexander Street. It does appear to be a consent order so to speak but it appears there was some kind of civil forfeiture with only 30% going to the owners. However, guess who ran the drug den?
ReplyDelete