Vancouver police explain why city councillor wasn’t arrested for distributing heroin, cocaine

published on October 21, 2021 by Mike Howell in Vancouver Is Awesome

Vancouver police have explained why they didn’t arrest city councillor Jean Swanson in July for handing out heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine to drug users as part of a protest to push governments to increase the “safe supply” of drugs.

The explanation is contained in a report that went before the Vancouver Police Board Thursday that was in response to a complaint from a citizen — whose name wasn’t disclosed — about Swanson’s actions on July 14 in the Downtown Eastside.

“While the VPD does not condone drug trafficking and, in fact, does arrest for drug trafficking, it is recognized that the actions of the other protesters were not motivated by profit and were not the actions of organized crime groups, but rather, were grounded in harm reduction and raising awareness to the need for urgent action to the overdose crisis,” the report said…