Pubdate: Fri, 31 Oct 2008
Source: Surrey Leader (CN BC)
Copyright: 2008 Surrey Leader
Contact:  http://www.surreyleader.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1236
Author: Ryan Starr, Surrey North Delta Leader
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

SURREY MAN'S NEW JOINT IRKS LANGLEY

Surrey North Delta Leader Surrey Man's New Joint Irks Langley

Randy Caine is no stranger to struggles with the authorities.

Last Friday, Caine opened Hempyz in downtown Langley.

Billed as "your one-stop potleaf shop," the store is a gift and 
novelty shop with a pot leaf theme, but it doesn't sell marijuana 
paraphernalia like pipes and bongs.

On opening day, the city - which denied Hempyz a business licence 
because, according to Mayor Peter Fassbender, "any business with 
hemp-related materials doesn't conform with our zoning bylaws" - 
fined Caine $100.

"If I had pipes and bongs, it may be quite different," Caine says.

"But really, it's gifts, novelties and jokes. People see that and 
they come in and they're happy with it. I'm talking young and old. 
It's not like it's offensive."

You might recall Caine, 54, as the owner-operator of The Joint coffee 
house in Surrey.

Surrey council also denied Caine a business licence for the entire 18 
months his shop operated from 1995 to 1997.

"They really kept the place under negative scrutiny for quite a 
period of time," he says.

Caine, who was born and raised in Surrey, was also the Marijuana 
Party candidate for Surrey-Panorama Ridge in the 2001 provincial 
election, garnering less than three per cent of the vote.

Ten years ago, he waged a lengthy court battle to repeal Canada's 
Criminal Code ban on marijuana, arguing that it violated the Charter 
of Rights and Freedoms.

Caine launched the constitutional challenge - which made it all the 
way to the Supreme Court of Canada - after being arrested in White 
Rock with a joint that weighed 0.5 grams.

Ultimately the court ruled against him.

Caine also took on the City of Surrey in 2001 after it passed a bylaw 
aiming to control illegal indoor marijuana grow operations.

Back in Langley City, having been fined for operating without a 
licence, Caine is girding for another fight.

"Fortunately for me," he says, "that (bylaw infraction) ticket gives 
me access to a provincial court of law."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom