I have begun to believe my mind is full of tiny little topics that act like pimples.

No one can predict the order they start to fester in, or when they’ll get ripe and burst.

Monday, 2 February 2015

My Complaint and Request to Mayor Hepner




My Complaint and Request to Mayor Hepner
I Have a Right to Speak to my Peers

To all you, my readers: I think my right to Freedom of Speech was violated and I won’t take that lying down. There is a “Gag Rule” in Surrey that prevents me from addressing them as a group on City Property. It is a form of complete censorship  with no way around it and no appeal process. It is well intended to protect Seniors from the weevils of the world but the Seniors never requested it and I as a Senior resent it. I have requested two minor things from the City that cost nothing to eliminate the problem. Initiate a screening and approval process and grant let me educate my friends.

To clarify my complaint to Mayor Hepner: the text of my Seminar has already been posted here and follows this one. Please read them both and draw your own conclusions.


To: The City of Surrey                                     February 02, 2015
Attn: Mayor Hepner 

TODAY MY FREEDOM OF SPEECH WAS VIOLATED

Dear Mayor Hepner:
I am a Senior citizen, a resident of Surrey, and I use Medical Marijuana. I am also a Medical Marijuana Advocate and I have an excellent knowledge of the pros and cons of its use. I am also aware of the opposition from the government, including Surrey, which is compounded by the Canadian Medical Associations refusal to sign applications. Applications are blockaded. At this point I have no way to renew my license and if I could, all legal marijuana is way too expensive and out of my reach.

Medical Marijuana in Canada is in a state of total disarray and in the course of my advocacy I have found a great number of Seniors who have a marijuana knowledge base from the 1960’s and are totally ignorant of the significant advances made in understanding how it can help with medical problems. Two weeks ago I decided to inform my friends at the Seniors Center at the Guildford Recreation Center and educate them to what they have missed and what the state of Medical Marijuana is today.

I spent the last couple of weeks preparing a Seminar on Medical Marijuana that is addressed to Senior Citizens. By and large my generation is like the general public who are not really aware of the critical state of Medical Marijuana. Unfortunately, they are the most likely group to need it and the Boomer generation is arriving. They deserve to be informed.
I spent the past week advertising my Seminar by visiting the Seniors Room at the Guildford Recreation Center yakking with the members telling them what I was up to and leaving Notices and Signs and Brochures about it. It was to take place at 10AM-2PM today Friday the 30TH. From the response I got there was a lot of interest and I was certain I was going to get a good turnout. I felt welcomed by a great bunch of very nice people and I was really looking forward to my day on the Pulpit.

I ran down to the Seniors room, parked, grabbed my paperwork and went to enter. I was met by two Guildford Rec Center employees who advised that I was not allowed to deliver my speech. WTF? It wasn’t a nasty confrontation but apparently the City of Surrey considers Seniors so sensitive, subjective and fragile that they were protecting them from any harassment or disturbance of their tranquility. I was informed that no personal, private, or corporate soliciting or promotion was allowed at any of the Seniors Centers. 

I protested that I was soliciting or promoting nothing, that I was conducting an educational lecture to my peers to inform them of the current state of knowledge about marijuana, its composition and effects. I was telling them both its claimed benefit and the claimed risk of using it. There was nothing promotional just criticism of the system. I was advised to Complain to City Hall and that is a foregone conclusion.

I think my right to Freedom of Speech was violated. All I wanted was to inform my friends but I am silenced on Surrey City Property. Bullshit 

 As evidence of what they suppressed I have posted the basic outline of my seminar lecture on my blog. 


Where is the crime in telling the truth about a health choice that is a Seniors right to hear in order to make an informed decision?
Go figure.

Dear Mayor Hepner:

As a Senior I appreciate the concern and protection but I do protest it is arbitrary and all encompassing. As a Senior I resent the fact that Seniors have not requested nor approved your protection. There is no way to submit any personal private or corporate solicitations or promotions to the City to gain approval and a judgement of the worth of a presentation. If there was you might find that among all those requests there are some that have content that the seniors will find entertaining, informative, and worth listening to because it is their right to know material that is to their benefit. Right now the rule is blanket censorship of everything on the presumption that it is of no value. Seniors are barred from hearing what they find of value.


Request #1: Establish a Screening Process to Determine Worth

I want to request that the City augment the system to add a screening before any request for a presentation is denied. If it does not prove acceptable then its denial should be accompanied by the reasons for refusal. Only then will the submitter know how to correct, revise and resubmit a corrected copy for approval. You will need to pay for the service: charge for the consideration to prevent spurious applications.

If on the other hand if it is found that the material provides substance and information worth the Seniors hearing Approve it and assist in its promotion and preparation.


Request #2: I want Exemption.

Your consideration of Request #1 is going to take time. To expedite my educational project I would like you to read what I was going to tell my friends. You can read it at


I think you will find it an excellent presentation of information Seniors have a right to know. If you find it acceptable I would like exemption to the rule as it now stands and permission to address all the Senior Centers in Surrey on a repeat basis. I need to spread this knowledge while I am still able to. I have survived 17 years more than I ever expected and I don’t have time to waste.

I would very much appreciate a prompt reply and a decision. If my request for an exemption is refused please advise the reasons in detail and to whom I should address my appeal.

Thank you in advance for your consideration.
In anticipation of your reply
Best regards

Blaine Barrett

255 10202-149St.
Surrey BC  V3R 3Z8

Phn: 604-585-0236

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Now I wait for an answer to my request, stay tuned.


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