Northern B.C. homicide witnesses silenced by gang fears

Fears of a violent gang are keeping some northern B.C. residents from sharing information about the torture and decapitation of a young man following a party last winter, CBC News has learned.

BC LIBERAL GOVERNMENT CAUCUS
STATEMENT

For immediate release
October 18, 2012

VICTORIA � Today, West Vancouver-Sea to Sky MLA Joan McIntyre released the following statement in support of Vancouver-Fraserview MLA Kash Heed�s call for the legalization and regulation of marijuana.

�I join my colleague MLA Kash Heed in support of the legalization of marijuana. Like MLA Heed, I believe that ending the prohibition of marijuana will make our communities safer by taking the industry out of the hands of organized crime. Kash Heed and other experts, such as Dr. Julio Montaner and Dr. Evan Wood of the organization, Stop the Violence BC, believe that marijuana prohibition increases gang violence in our province � violence which does not take place in a silo, but rather on the streets of our communities, putting B.C. families at risk.

�Prohibition has required a substantial investment in our police services, and places a heavy financial burden on the taxpayer. I believe, as my colleague Kash Heed does, that it draws police resources and capacity away from other, more pragmatic areas which would make our communities safer.

�In spite of the dedicated efforts of our police in B.C., a war on drugs only serves to drive organized crime further underground; it fails to end the cycle of violence and drug use, but succeeds in draining our coffers.

�I believe we need a paradigm shift from prohibition to one of regulation and taxation, making B.C. safer for us all.�

-30-

Media contact: Mark Knudsen, BC Government Caucus Communications, (250) 356-1539

"Curtman" said


In other news...



MLA Joan McIntyre joins Kash Heed, calls for regulation and taxation

"Curtman" said


In other news...



MLA Joan McIntyre joins Kash Heed, calls for regulation and taxation

The family told CBC News they have heard that their son, who struggled with a cocaine addiction in the past, somehow ended up at a house on the reserve, where about two dozen people were partying on the night of his death.

On Feb. 3, 2012, RCMP investigators confirmed that the human remains located in a vacant property along Lower Road in Fort St. James on the Nak'azdli reserve were identified as Fribjon Bjornson, 28, of Vanderhoof, B.C. (RCMP)
They say residents of the area have told them four or five gang members attacked Bjornson in the basement of the house, perhaps after learning he had just cashed a paycheque worth several thousand dollars.

"Curtman" said
Not at all irrelevant.



The black market is what it is. You're either for it or against it.

They say residents of the area have told them four or five gang members attacked Bjornson in the basement of the house, perhaps after learning he had just cashed a paycheque worth several thousand dollars.

"Gunnair" said
Not at all irrelevant.



The black market is what it is. You're either for it or against it.

They say residents of the area have told them four or five gang members attacked Bjornson in the basement of the house, perhaps after learning he had just cashed a paycheque worth several thousand dollars.

"Curtman" said

He never would have been there buying cocaine. He would never have met those people if he didn't have to go there to feed his addiction. The gangsters would have no reason to even know who he was. He should have been seeing doctors instead of gangsters for help. This is as close as prohibition gets to success. One less addict around right?

"Curtman" said


The black market is what it is. You're either for it or against it.

"RUEZ" said
I never met this man but I knew his mom.

"DrCaleb" said
I never met this man but I knew his mom.

"andyt" said
Come on, we're not that different. Lots of gang killings go unsolved in whitey land too because nobody will talk as well.