This week in Prince George history, March 5-11:
March 8, 1954: "If drug addiction is becoming a problem in Prince George, as charged last week by a Vancouver detective, it is either news to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police here or else they are not interested in talking about it," The Citizen reported.
A local police official said there is evidence to support the police's position.
"His point was that if there was any major traffic in narcotics here it would be reflected in a higher-than-usual crime rate," The Citizen reported. "Theft frequency is considered a barometer of narcotic addiction in cities the world over where a drug traffic is known to exist. Theft here today is at a low ebb, police say, and for this reason they believe there is no narcotic problem in Prince George."
Sustaining a drug addiction typically costs $15 to $30 per day, the police official said, meaning addicts are often forced to engage in petty theft to pay for their habits.
"It became generally known in the city a year and a half ago that drug traffic was on the upswing, but the matter was ignored by newspapers at the request of local RCMP officials who believed their super-secret narcotics squad might be at work here and that publicity might upset their plans," The Citizen reported.
An arrest was made, but the suspect threw away the drugs before police could close in. A quantity of low-quality heroin was found, but they couldn't prove it belonged to the suspect.
"A prominent member of the medical profession contacted late last week said he believed that there was a substantial traffic in drugs about the time of the man's arrest, but he said there is no evidence that it still exists," The Citizen reported. "He said that in the practice of his profession here he had encountered no cases recently where drug addiction was indicated."
Mayor Gordon Bryant also said he'd not been made aware of anything but a minor trade in narcotics in the city, but would request a confidential report on the matter from the RCMP.
An official at the women's jail said about 95 per cent of drug-addicted inmates leave town for Vancouver as soon as possible after their release. Most of the inmates come from the Vancouver area, after being transferred from Oakalla prison, and are given a bus ticket back to their home community.
"About 50 per cent of the inmates of the jail are serving terms for possession of drugs, and most of them are known addicts," Warden William Trant told The Citizen. "We see them on the bus and we know they go."
There had only been one drug conviction in the city in the past six years, which involved a nurse who stole narcotics from the Prince George and District Hospital.
(ITALIC) While I couldn't find the original comments by the Vancouver police detective which prompted this article, it is telling that Prince George was the scene of a major drug bust on Sept. 24, 1954. The Citizen reported on the case going to trial on Oct. 12, 1954: (END ITALIC)
"What may develop into one of the biggest drug cases in British Columbia this year will open in a city courtroom tomorrow when a man and woman face preliminary hearing on a charge of possession of narcotics," The Citizen reported. "Royal Canadian Mounted Police today authorized the lifting of a veil of secrecy which was dropped over the case late last month with the cooperation of The Citizen. Citizen newsmen who learned of the arrest agreed not to publish any mention of the case while the investigation was underway."
Roland Wilfred Brunel and Maude Elizabeth Truman, both longtime Prince George residents, were arrested on Sept. 24 were stopped by police and arrested while driving 12 miles south of the city. Police seized a large quantity of heroin from the vehicle.
"Unofficially, the haul is said to be the largest in the province this year," The Citizen reported.
Later reports on the trial revealed that police seized 390 capsules of uncut heroin, worth approximately $3,900 on the street (almost $36,000 in today's money).
Brunel was sentenced to 10 years in jail for his role in the crime, but Truman -his common law wife - was acquitted.
(ITALIC) The level of cooperation seen between the police and The Citizen in this story is something that likely wouldn't happen today. While journalists sometimes use their discretion and choose to withhold information which could do harm, we are not in the practice of intentionally deceiving the public -at least not at The Citizen. (END ITALIC)
To explore 100 years of local history yourself, visit the Prince George Citizen archives online at: pgc.cc/PGCarchive. The Prince George Citizen online archives are maintained by the Prince George Public Library.
