ASK Wellness says RCMP bust won’t slow down drug trafficking

Jun 3, 2016 | 2:06 PM

KAMLOOPS — A day after Kamloops RCMP showed off a significant seizure of illicit drugs, money, and weapons from an upstart criminal organization, some say while it sends a strong message to the community, it will do little to slow down drug trafficking in the city. 

Bob Hughes from ASK Wellness says the demand for drugs in Kamloops is at an all-time high, and he believes the supply will soon be replaced by another source.

But he says the bust at the very least may deter others from taking part in such criminal activity.
 
“I think what we’ll see is short term, definitely it’ll have an impact,” says Hughes. “Importantly, it sends a statement to those who are coming into the community trying to distribute these substances. It sends a really strong message saying, ‘this is not the place to do business.’ You can’t openly traffic drugs on the streets.”

On Thursday, RCMP unveiled a seizure of thousand of grams of illicit drugs during various searches around the city. Hughes is shocked at the amount of drugs involved. 

“What we see here is the diversity of the substances. We’re looking at large volumes of cocaine, if you noted the amount of meth, that’s a lot of meth for a community this size in one seizure,” notes Hughes. 

“I think it speaks to, in Kamloops, the pre-2009 era where we did have the Red Scorpions in. This summer is going to take a great coordinated effort amongst a number of parties, hopefully being led by the RCMP.”