Pubdate: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 Source: Province, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2004 The Province Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/ Author: Janet Steffenhagen and Maurice Bridge, Vancouver Sun Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) CAFE'S POT SUPPLIER RUN BY EX-CON JAILED FOR WEAPONS, DRUG OFFENCES The group that supplies pot to Da Kine Smoke & Beverage Shop is headed by a man released from prison less than two years ago after serving time for growing marijuana, money-laundering and a weapons offence. Donald Briere was arrested in 1999 by Surrey RCMP, who said at the time his marijuana-growing operation was the largest they had ever seen, employing about 80 people. Police also said Briere owned an arsenal of deadly weapons, including an Intratec 9 mm machinegun and 260,000 rounds of ammunition. He was sentenced in October 2001 to four years in prison after pleading guilty to cultivating marijuana, laundering $2.3 million in proceeds and possessing a prohibited assault rifle. His plea followed a deal police made with his brother-in-law Doug Montaldi, one of two key figures in an unregulated bank in Burns Lake. Police said they would not pursue money-laundering charges against Montaldi if he testified against Briere, who'd provided the funds for the bank. Information sworn by the RCMP in order to obtain a search warrant in May 2000 stated that Briere transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars in U.S. currency to Montaldi, a director and shareholder of 439288 B.C. Ltd., between 1995 and 1998. The document said Montaldi, who was married to Briere's sister, cycled more than $850,000 Cdn -- most of it in U.S. currency -- through the numbered company, which took deposits and made loans to Burns Lake residents. In the end, Montaldi did not have to testify against Briere, who chose to plead guilty. In 2001, the Canadian Revenue Agency took action against Briere to recover more than $1 million in unpaid income tax. Montaldi and his partner in the unregulated bank, Glenn Anderson, were suspended from the securities market for 12 years and fined $200,000 by the B.C. Securities Commission. However, earlier this year the B.C. Court of Appeal threw out the commission's findings of fraud and misrepresentation, and concluded the commission would have to reconsider its sanctions against the two. Before he was sentenced, Briere set up the Canadian Sanctuary Society, which he said would be dedicated to helping people legally obtain marijuana for medicinal purposes. He is one of five directors of the society, and he and three other directors were Marijuana Party candidates in the most recent B.C. election. Briere was released on day parole in December 2002 and promptly announced plans to open a chain of cafes for people who are allowed to use marijuana for medicinal purposes. Briere could not be reached to comment Monday. Da Kine owner Carol Gwilt has said the cafe donates space to the society, which sells marijuana there. She would not say where the society obtains its marijuana. The cafe was raided by Vancouver police last Thursday, and Gwilt and seven employees were arrested. She said the cafe has been selling marijuana for four months to patrons who are over 18 years of age and have a federal exemption allowing them to buy marijuana or are registered with the society and have applied for an exemption. Lorne McLeod, also a spokesman for the business, said 10,000 such applications have been completed since the cafe opened. But Michael Hansen of the Canadian Cannabis Gro-Operative Union said Da Kine is giving the marijuana industry a bad name because it has been selling pot to people who are under 18. "If you're offering a service to sick people, that's great. But when you open it to the public, that's wrong," Hansen said Monday in an interview. After the raid, police said a majority of the customers in Da Kine were young, and none were able to show that they had a federal exemption. Despite the well-publicized raid, which involved as many as 30 police, some disguised with balaclava masks, marijuana sales continue at Da Kine, and the Vancouver Police Department said Monday it is not ruling out the possibility of another big raid. "Our investigation in regards to Da Kine remains active -- we haven't concluded anything," Const. Sarah Bloor said Monday. "They continue to flaunt their criminal activity and we will continue to uphold the law." Bloor said police estimate Da Kine has gross sales of $500,000 a month. "There's no other legitimate business that I can think of on Commercial Drive that is making half a million dollars," she said. Bloor would not say what measures police might take: "We'll definitely make it public when we do go forward, but at this point we are still actively investigating and using a number of different applications in order to complete that investigation." She added police are aware of other Commercial Drive businesses that are selling marijuana, and said they would be investigated "in due course." Bloor said police expressed concern as long ago as January that drugs might be sold on the premises if Da Kine was granted a licence, and made those concerns known to the city. "This was discussed back in January as far as our concerns about the potential for this type of cafe, and their potential for applying for a licence," she said. "It wasn't until May that the licence was granted, so we were completely unaware that it had been and it wasn't until we got public complaints in August that it came to our radar screen, but we weren't aware of it prior to that." Last week, Paul Teichroeb, the city's chief licence inspector, said licensing authorities were aware of concerns about drug sales when they considered the cafe's business licence application. "We were very careful about asking them about exactly their type of business and what they were going to sell," he said. "We were assured it was going to be publications and some food and everything that would conform to the bylaw, and on that basis we issued a licence. "We were very specific about whether there was going to be any illegal activity or sale of marijuana or other products and we were assured that that wasn't going to occur on the premise." - --- MAP posted-by: Derek