A drug bust at The Loft Gallery last week that also uncovered eight jars of homemade liquor is not indicative of an after-hours illicit drinking scene downtown, Victoria police say.
“This is the first major one that’s come to our attention,” said Const. Mike Russell. “We get little ones that pop up here and there, with a business throwing an unlicensed party or stuff like that. This is fairly rare.”
The bust at the Fort Street gallery — the subject of a month-long investigation that started with a Crime Stoppers tip — should not be confused with legal after-hours clubs for youth, such as the Sunset Room, that are alcohol-free, he said.
Victoria police are recommending that The Loft owner, a 38-year-old Victoria man, be charged with trafficking and possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking. After a second search at a home on Oswego Street in James Bay, police arrested a 28-year-old Victoria woman and are recommending charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking and possession of a controlled substance against her.
All told, police seized about $3,000 in cash and $10,000 worth of marijuana — about 3.6 kilograms.
Ken Kelly, executive director of the Downtown Victoria Business Association, said the bust was part of the “transformation” over the past five years that has made downtown “so much more appealing and so much safer.”
Police believe The Loft’s owner was supplying a significant number of youth who were dealing drugs and causing disturbances in the area of Douglas and View streets.
They also believe he was supplied with drugs by a 19-year-old Duncan man who was arrested and is to be appear in court at a later date, Russell said.
Ian Smale, owner of Acme Locksmith a door down from The Loft, was not surprised by the drug bust.
“We’d often smell the odour of pot from the upstairs windows. Sometimes they smoked on the street,” he said. The problem had been going on for several months, he said.
The Loft property is owned by Samson Holdings; there was no business licence for The Loft, said Katie Josephson of the City of Victoria.
Matt Schryer, a medical marijuana patient and regular visitor, said police statements that The Loft was an unsafe place for youth misrepresented the venue and its owners’ “positive contribution and effect on the downtown core.”
In an email to the Times Colonist, Schryer said he found “total security, comfort and joy when in The Loft Gallery,” and no sign of heroin, crystal meth, cocaine or any weapon.
Police said that a major concern was that The Loft targeted already vulnerable youth.
The home brew found could pose the same kind of danger that drugs do.
“Just like drugs, you don’t know what you’re getting,” Russell said.
