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. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart