Pubdate: Fri, 16 Jan 2015
Source: Daily Courier, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 The Okanagan Valley Group of Newspapers
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/5NyOACet
Website: http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/531
Author: Don Plant

MARIJUANA DISPENSARY TARGETED BY MOUNTIES

RCMP lowered the boom on a new marijuana dispensary that was sailing 
under the radar in downtown Kelowna.

Mounties raided the Kaya Clinic on Lawrence Avenue this week after 
receiving complaints the shop may be trafficking weed. They seized 
more than 12 pounds of dried marijuana and dozens of derivatives, 
including oils, hash, capsules, teas, honey, cookies and more.

"We received reports of the operations of this dispensary. We had 
reasonable grounds an offence was being committed. If that occurs, 
we'll take enforcement action," RCMP spokesman Const. Kris Clark said Friday.

The shop is now closed. Officers are consulting with federal 
prosecutors about whether owners of the business should be charged 
with possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Two other marijuana dispensaries operate in the Central Okanagan, but 
it doesn't appear police are planning to close them down. The Bkind 
location in Rutland is a compassion club and operates under a different model.

"We'll likely have a conversation with them, but we're not at the 
same stage as the one downtown," Clark said.

The West Kelowna dispensary, Black Crow Herbal Solutions, is fairly 
new and Clark knows little about it.

Pot dispensaries have been operating for years in a kind of legal 
limbo in B.C. There's no mechanism in Canada that allows for a 
dispensary or compassion club to function, and yet police have for 
the most part let them be.

Last week, officers in Grand Forks warned the owner of a dispensary 
that he may be breaking the law, prompting him to close it - at least 
temporarily.

Current legislation allows people with prescriptions to access 
medical marijuana for a medical purpose, but it doesn't provide 
"blanket legality" to produce, use or traffic the substance, RCMP say.

Global TV reported last week that officials with the City of Kelowna 
were concerned the owners of the Kaya Clinic may have misled them 
when they applied for a licence to operate last year.

"As we understand it, they have a business licence for retail 
operations, and through our investigation it looks like it has 
transformed into a medical marijuana dispensary," Rob Mayne told the 
TV station.

No arrests have been made. The business remains closed until further 
notice, a sign on the door read Friday.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom