Pubdate: Sat, 02 May 2015
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2015 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Mike Hager
Page: S4

DISPENSARY OFFERS FREE JOINT OR POT COOKIE FOR REOPENING

Many people strolling bohemian Commercial Drive simply smirked as 
they saw the dispensary's sidewalk sandwich board advertising its 
"grand reopening" with the offer of a free joint or pot cookie.

Some climbed the stairs, passed the prominent "No Minors" sign and 
stepped inside Health Lifestyle's second-floor shop, where friendly 
staff were busy restocking the shelves Friday afternoon with glass 
bongs and a variety of buds, butters and edibles. The dispensary 
planned to hand out a free joint or cookie to any member over this 
weekend to celebrate reopening after a Feb. 5 police raid.

Dispensaries giving away product like this are pushing the unwritten 
limits of what constitutes an unacceptable risk to public safety, 
Vancouver Police spokesman Constable Brian Montague said.

"What they're doing is illegal anyway, but what I will say is with 
things like this activity, you run the risk of unwanted police 
attention," Constable Montague said.

Three years ago, roughly 20 dispensaries dotted Vancouver's streets. 
Now, more than 80 dispensaries face the prospect of the city limiting 
where they can set up shop and charging them a licensing fee of 
$30,000. On Tuesday, city council voted to proceed to public hearings 
on its regulatory plans, which the Conservative federal government 
has strongly opposed, calling for a shutdown of the dispensaries.

However, even under the proposed regulatory framework, the VPD will 
still have to investigate public-safety complaints against the shops, 
something Constable Montague said doesn't happen that often but 
usually involves risks to minors.

Police took the unusual step of executing the search warrant against 
Health Lifestyle three months ago after complaints that the 
dispensary was selling magic mushrooms and marijuana to local 
high-school students, Constable Montague said.

He said the only clear set of rules for the illegal dispensaries to 
abide by is the Canadian Criminal Code, but there are a few "no 
brainers" that will attract police attention, such as selling to 
minors, links to organized crime, a fire hazard in the building or 
setting up shop under residential units.

In the past year and a half, the VPD has raided eight other 
dispensaries, with the "youth factor" playing a part in all the 
investigations, Constable Montague said. (Only Jim's Weed Lounge on 
East Hastings Street has remained closed.)

"Kids are getting violently ill because it usually revolves around 
edibles," he said. "And if you look at the problems that they're 
having in the States where these stores are legal, they're having 
issues and they're trying to determine regulations around edibles 
because they're problematic. From a police perspective, providing 
products to 14-, 15- and 16-year-olds that send them to hospital is a 
real concern for us."

On Wednesday, police raided a Weeds Glass and Gifts dispensary in 
Kitsilano after a 15-year-old allegedly ate some edibles bought at 
the store and had to be sent to hospital, the constable said.

Don Briere, who owns part of each of the 11 Weeds Glass and Gifts 
franchises across Vancouver, said police seized around $2,000 worth 
of cannabis product and all the cash in the till, but the store was 
back operating the next day. He said no employee has been charged 
yet, but if police do find that someone sold to minors, "boom, he's fired."

Mr. Briere, a recreational cannabis crusader who was jailed for 
running one of the province's largest networks of illegal grow 
operations in the nineties, said he respected the VPD's duty to 
investigate the complaint, but questioned why a liquor store doesn't 
get raided after a minor gets alcohol poisoning.

Back at Health Lifestyle, nonmembers could get their free joint or 
cookie after a five-minute sign-up process that involved declaring 
how cannabis helped treat a medical condition and included promising 
not to sell the product or use it with alcohol. As staff helped 
customers buy a variety of products and paraphernalia, a uniformed 
security guard with handcuffs stood by the entrance.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom