Kurtis Lemon, owner of D&D Flowers in downtown Vancouver near the Hotel Canada shelter, reports severe issues with open drug use and crime affecting his business since April. He describes frequent disturbances including theft and unsanitary conditions that deter potential customers from visiting his store. Lemon expresses frustration over lack of effective interventions by authorities despite raising concerns for two months.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-18,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
The owner of D&D Flowers in downtown Vancouver, Kurtis Lemon, has expressed concerns about rampant open drug use near his shop at 531 Richards St., which is across from the Hotel Canada low-barrier shelter. Lemon reported seeing ongoing issues like theft and discarded feces, deterring customers and tourists who prefer to avoid the area. He emphasized that while he sympathizes with those suffering from addiction, his main goal is running a successful business and attracting more foot traffic by reducing street crime and disorder. The situation highlights broader challenges in addressing homelessness and drug use in urban areas like Vancouver.
Written for “Vancouver Drug Use Crisis” on 2026-09-18,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it +0.30, but all 1 of its quote(s) are attributed speech - words the article quotes from someone, not the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 17386: attributed speech only · logged 2026-09-18
The owner of a downtown Vancouver flower shop says he has dealt with street crime and disorder since purchasing the business in April.
asserted
he → say → April
D&D Flowers, located at 531 Richards St., is across from the Hotel Canada low-barrier shelter.
asserted
Flowers → locate → shelter
“I’m no stranger to addiction,” D&D Flowers owner, Kurtis Lemon, told Global News.
asserted
owner → ’m → News
“I definitely had a pretty severe addiction to cocaine for several years.”
asserted
I → have → years
But Lemon said the shelter across the street has become a source of ongoing problems, with rampant open drug use keeping customers away.
asserted
use → say → customers
“Just all day long and sometimes even late into the night,” he said.
asserted
he → say → night
“I’ve been here very late into the night to do orders, sometimes overnight.
asserted
I → do → orders
We were here once and there’s just a ton of drug use and people coming and going on drugs, stealing things.
asserted
We → ’ → things
I see stolen property all the time.
asserted
I → see → property
Lemon added that his primary focus is to make his business successful and while he does not like to see people addicted to drugs and suffering on the street, he also does not like to see tourists and potential customers avoid the street or have to step off the curb to avoid drug users.
Get breaking National news
“When you have a group of tourists that are maybe going down to the cruise ship terminal and they don’t have to go down this street and they’re at the set of lights and they see a group of people that’s laying around doing drugs, they may say, well, let’s just go one more street down and then we’ll go down the hill,” Lemon said.
uncertain
Lemon → add → hill
He added that he is frustrated because it seems like nothing is being done.
asserted
nothing → add → ?
“I’ve been trying to get attention about the drug use on the streets and the SRO across the street for, I guess, maybe two months now,” he said.
asserted
he → try → months
“And it seems like all of a sudden somebody made a phone call and told the operators of this SRO that they need to keep their act together or to do better.
asserted
they → seem → act
And so they have been doing better.
asserted
they → do → ?
But it lasted about a week.
asserted
it → last → ?
And then it kind of went back to normal.”
asserted
it → go → ?
- Winnipeg police officer arrested, charged with assaulting intimate partner: WPS
- New Project South documents claim officer sold uniforms to alleged criminals
-
uncertain
officer → arrest → criminals
Police charge 16-year-old with first-degree murder of fellow teen in Toronto
- SiRT investigating police shooting involving youth in downtown Moncton
asserted
SiRT → charge → Moncton
Municipal leaders from across B.C. say they are seeing similar situations in their communities.
asserted
they → say → communities
At the Union of B.C. Municipalities, many leaders announced they are signing a five-point Contract with Communities calling on senior levels of government to prioritize their responses to the crisis.
asserted
they → announce → crisis
“Those issues that we’re grappling with are complex and integrated and demanding,” Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto said.
asserted
Alto → grapple → that
“And frankly, it is unsustainable for local governments to have to step in to this degree in all of those complex areas.”
asserted
governments → have → areas
One of the five actions being called for by the Save Our Streets group is the development of standards to ensure low-barrier services do not negatively impact their neighbourhoods.
asserted
services → call → neighbourhoods
Lemon said it is possible for the situation to be improved.
asserted
situation → say → ?
“It’s clearly possible for the street to be kept clean when people make an effort, when people know that things are not appropriate,” he added.
asserted
he → ’ → effort
“So that would definitely be the frustration is that we can definitely do these things, we can clean these things up, but nobody’s really doing it.
asserted
nobody → do → it
Nobody’s really making an effort.
asserted
Nobody → make → effort
It takes somebody like me to have to call out the situation for something to happen.”
asserted
something → take → situation
The Aporia
