The first brick-and-mortar drug store just opened up in Vancouver, Canada.
And I'm not talking about the local drug store your folks used to pick up Advil and toilet paper from. This store sells legit, hard drugs.
On the menu, they have:
- Crack
- Cocaine
- Heroin
- MDMA/ecstasy
- Opioids
- Methamphetamine
Jerry Martin, 51, opened the "Drugs Store" this Wednesday in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
Everyone knows it's all about location, location, location!
So, what better place to open up shop other than Downtown Eastside, which has long been considered ground zero for Canada's overdose epidemic?
Vancouver has been dealing with a drug epidemic for years and pushing a three-year drug decriminalization project for small possessions, BUT it is still illegal to sell.
The "Drugs Shop" is currently operating entirely illegally.
Despite the illegality of his new business, Martin markets his drugs as "safe," "tested," and "fentanyl free" while wearing a stab-proof vest for protection.
He also says he keeps minimal drugs on site to reduce the risk of robbery.
Yeah, totally "safe."
Martin told VICE News:
People are dying. Especially now, they've allowed the entire province to do these drugs... But they've provided no clean, safe supply. They're getting it from the same supply that everybody's overdosing from.
PHOTO BY MANISHA KRISHNAN / VICEPHOTO BY MANISHA KRISHNAN / VICE
This guy could easily be arrested, but his lawyer, Paul Lewin, is already on the case and has prepared an argument. Lewin wrote a letter to Martin's potential landlords and business partners in case of arrest:
He would allege that laws that prevent a safe supply and result in death by poisoning contravene section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and must be struck down.
Martin himself apparently started using drugs at the age of 14 and was addicted to alcohol and injecting cocaine by 15. One of his brothers was stabbed to death over drugs in 2000, and his stepbrother died of an overdose last year.
I guess you could call it a family business...
