Hey, East Side folks, maybe you can help me out with something…
Almost every time I’m on my bike and heading home along the Grandview cut and I get to Commercial Drive, a distinct smell overwhelms my sniffer.
I would describe it as a sweet, skunky odour.
For some inexplicable reason, I tend to inhale said smell around 4:20 p.m.
Any idea what that could be?
I’ve been meaning to stop and ask the guys hanging out on the corner but I don’t want to ruin their fun; they’re always passing around something and laughing in between coughing fits.
Plus, I’m not in the market for one of the T-shirts they’re selling or whatever else they’ve got spread out on the sidewalk. The other thing is, I don’t really like to conduct business while in biking shorts.
Another thought is the smell could be coming from the dumpsters outside the convenience store near the intersection. But I can’t be bothered to wander over and take a whiff because I once saw two plump rats there.
Interesting thing though, Commercial Drive is not the only place in town that I’ve smelled that smell. It’s all over town, in fact — West Side, South Side, North Side, downtown — it’s everywhere, man.
I smell it on the streets, in alleys, in parks, on the bus, in washrooms, on people’s clothes and even in elevators. Seems to be particularly pungent at concerts.
Ah heck, maybe it’s just the smell of Vancouver.
So you know what, I think I better stop there before you think I’m some sort of smell freak. I’ll just get on with giving you some valuable civic affairs info, instead.
How about I share some info from the Vancouver Police Department’s recently released 2013 annual report?
Sound good?
After a quick read, I can tell you there’s actually some interesting stuff in it and at least one surprise. I don’t want to spoil it, so I’ll turn it over to Police Chief Jim Chu.
“One statistic that may surprise you is the increase in cannabis incidents,” the chief wrote. “That number has jumped from 864 in 2012 to 1,048 last year.”
Wow, that’s pretty significant, I thought.
But according to Chu, “this does not reflect a hardening of the VPD drug policy.” The department’s policy, he said, continues to focus on violent drug dealers who prey on marginalized and vulnerable people.
“While there may be some violent drug operations reflected within that figure, those numbers generally represent cannabis that has been seized from someone without a charge laid, much the same way we seize liquor from people drinking on the street without laying charges, but still document the incidents,” the chief added.
In other words, a lot of dudes got their mellow harshed in 2013 after the cops bogarted their weed. But I’ve got it on good authority that the cops didn’t get it all.
Just take a whiff.
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