Pubdate: Fri, 07 May 2010
Source: Maple Ridge Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2010 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc
Contact:  http://www.mrtimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1372
Author: Amy Steele

COPS, DISTRICT CHECK OUT MEDICAL POT SHOP

A new medicinal marijuana dispensary on 224 Street in Maple Ridge 
already has 18 people signed up as members in the first week of operation.

However, Michael Joinson, director of The Always Growing Green 
Society (TAGGS), which runs the dispensary, is nervous the District 
of Maple Ridge or the Ridge Meadows RCMP might shut the operation 
down before it really gets off the ground.

The dispensary opened its doors Monday and on Tuesday got a visit 
from a police officer and Brock McDonald, the director of business 
licencing, permits and bylaws for the District of Maple Ridge.

Joinson said they told him they were going to get more information 
before taking any action. "I'm not doing something new here. This 
(medicinal marijuana dispensaries) has been happening in Vancouver 
for 12 years," said Joinson. "I said I understand you have to do your 
job and I have to do my job too because there's a need for what we're doing."

Joinson has a meeting with Maple Ridge Mayor Ernie Daykin next Tuesday as well.

Joinson said he's learned there are 200 people within 30 kilometres 
of the new dispensary that are customers of Vancouver medicinal 
marijuana dispensaries.

"We've sent out mass e-mails to everybody who is using dispensary 
services in Vancouver to send messages to the mayor and let him know 
we're not just a couple of people. This is a huge amount of people," 
said Joinson.

The dispensary is selling sativa and indica strains of cannabis buds, 
hash, marijuana "budder" and oils, tinctures and baked marijuana 
edibles. Joinson said only people with federal government permission 
to use medicinal marijuana or people with a doctor's letter stating 
medicinal marijuana would alleviate symptoms will be able to buy 
products at the dispensary.

McDonald said the RCMP is currently consulting with "a number of" 
federal agencies including Health Canada.

"What they're trying to do is get some sort of confirmation from them 
whether this activity is lawful and once they hear back from those 
federal agencies then obviously the RCMP will be in a better position 
to decide what to do," said McDonald.

McDonald said TAGGS, as a non-profit society, isn't necessarily 
required to have a business licence.

"We have to take a hard look at the activity. The bylaw sort of 
exempts non-profits in some situations from needing a business 
licence," he said. "The first order of business is to determine 
whether this is a lawful activity, which is an RCMP matter."

McDonald said he's checked out the zoning for the property the 
dispensary is in and it's commercial even though there's a house on the site.

"If somebody wanted to open up a...legitimate drug dispensary then 
from a land use perspective C-3 would comply," he said.

Under Health Canada regulations people with permission to use 
marijuana medicinally can get permission to grow their own marijuana 
or designate someone to grow it for them but that person can only 
grow for up to two people. Health Canada also obtains marijuana from 
a supplier, which people can buy.

Ashley Lemire said no one else is legally allowed to grow or sell 
marijuana, including compassion clubs like TAGGS.

"If compassion clubs operate outside of Canadian laws, this is an 
enforcement issue and falls under the jurisdiction of law enforcement 
agencies. Health Canada works in cooperation with law enforcement 
agencies to reduce the illegal production and distribution of 
substances related to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act," she 
said in an e-mail.

Joinson said it's unfortunate that some of the neighbours of the new 
dispensary are upset about the lack of consultation. He said the 
non-profit attempted to distribute fliers around the neighbourhood 
letting people know about it but he said the people hired to 
distribute the fliers didn't actually hand them out and instead he 
believes they just threw them in a dumpster.

He said the non-profit didn't want to tell the RCMP or the district 
in advance because members feared they'd be shut down before they 
could even get started and they wanted some time to sign up members 
to prove there's a need for it.

As of April 2, 2010 there were 4,907 people in Canada granted 
permission to use marijuana medicinally by Health Canada and 1,045 of 
those people lived in B.C.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart