Pubdate: Tue, 27 Jan 2015
Source: Parksville Qualicum Beach News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Black Press
Contact:  http://www.pqbnews.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1361
Authors: Auren Ruvinsky & Candace Wu
Page: A1

FIGHTING PHOENIX

Marijuana dispensary still open, but that may change

A controversial compassion club in downtown Parksville is one of the
RCMP's priorities, but operators vow to keep serving local members.

While the operator says he is not distributing pot out of this
location currently, the RCMP have called the Phoenix Pain Management
Society, which says it helps people get medical marijuana, "completely
illegal," and Cpl. Jesse Foreman confirmed Friday "we'll do what we
have to do," in terms of shutting it down if RCMP deem there are
illegal activities going on at this downtown Parksville location.

"I asked if they had no violent crime or heroine addiction or cocaine
to deal with," said the society's managing director, Akil Pessoa,
after a meeting with Oceanside RCMP last week.

He said he went to see the RCMP "of my own volition" after meeting
with Parksville Mayor Marc Lefebvre and he said he asked both: "Why
are you bullying sick people? That's my real question. We know that we
can help them, we know the country's going in a direction that will
allow them to be helped." Pessoa said the RCMP "told me we will be
prosecuted to the maximum extent of the federal law, as well as having
the full weight of the Controlled Substances Act thrown against us. So
the scene we're about to have, if (the mayor) has his way, is little
old ladies with arthritic hips handcuffed and thrown into cars. I
don't want to see that in Parksville, it's just a bad image."

Said Foreman: "If they are selling drugs out there, it's illegal. If the 
police chief and mayor are in agreement, it's a priority of the 
Oceanside RCMP."

"If they are doing nothing in that building to contravene the
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, it wouldn't be a priority," said
Foreman.

Pessoa said despite his surprise at Lefebvre's position, "I actually
have some sympathy for him. I actually feel bad that the whole thing
blew up in his face. He was just caught unaware."

But now Pessoa said he wants Lefebvre and the RCMP to "just shake
their heads. I hope they realize they're fighting on the wrong side of
history. I hope the whole thing just goes away so we can serve some
people, because in the end - not even in the end, we're currently
serving them, we're going to continue serving them - and in the end
we'll be serving them here."

Pessoa also expressed concern at Lefebvre's "very high level of
deference to the RCMP, which is fine, but they weren't elected."

Lefebvre told The NEWS "I respectfully told (Pessoa and associates),
they were telling me about their non-dispensing services, types of
products for different ailments and I fully understand that but we
(the city) take our advice from the RCMP and what they are doing is
illegal."

"They (the RCMP) said it's illegal so it's illegal," Lefebvre said
Friday. "Whatever the RCMP tell me, the city will comply."

Pessoa said Phoenix is not currently dispensing cannabis products
through their Parksville branch at 120 Middleton Ave., but
re-directing people to its Nanaimo location or finding other ways to
help people with "proven medical ailments" get "the medicine they need."

He said he asked Lefebvre and the police: "What are we doing that's
illegal? We're providing information. It's freedom of association and
free speech and we're just bringing information and education. I'd
like to understand what the issue is."

But Lefebvre said that while Pessoa called it "a grey area," Lefebvre
said "If it's not legal, it's illegal."

The mayor was asked if his support for the Wildflower Inc. proposal
for a medical marijuana growing facility on city-owned property in the
industrial park, coupled with his opposition to the compassion club,
constituted conflicting messages.

"First of all it's apples and oranges," said the mayor. "Wildflower
would be sanctioned and approved by Health Canada. You won't be able
to go to Wildflower and say I want a few grams of marijuana."

"The sad thing is we're on the same side," Pessoa said. "I don't want
people walking around high all day, I don't want kids smoking, I don't
want drug dealers in the alley."

Amanda Orum, mid-Island riding organizer for Sensible B.C., met with
Pessoa and The NEWS Friday and stressed the idea that the whole
province and country is moving towards decriminalizing, but the laws
still have to catch up.

She pointed to the 2012 Union of B.C. Municipalities' resolution to
decriminalize.

"When I hear that our compassion clubs are being threatened, that goes
against what our elected ancestors have said."

She also pointed to places like Vancouver where "police have indicated
that dispensaries are not a priority."

Jamie Shaw, president of the Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis
Dispensaries, told The NEWS that compassion clubs "continue to exist
for the same reasons they started: there are some very ill people
whose lives can be greatly improved by cannabis, and due to the legal
status of this plant as a controlled substance, they either can't
access it, can't access it affordably, can't access it in a form that
works, can't access it safely, or consistently, or can't access a safe
supply without dispensaries existing."

Said Pessoa: "What I'm hoping is, in the end, (Lefebvre) takes the 
position of doing the best service for the community he's elected to serve."

Lefebvre said the only community response he's received is one e-mail
questioning why the compassion club is illegal.

Pessoa pledges to be at every Coffee with the Mayor session, Thursdays
at

2 p.m. at city hall, for discussion.
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MAP posted-by: Matt