Pubdate: Fri, 11 Sep 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: A1

HEALTH CANADA WARNS RCMP MAY ACT IF POT DISPENSARIES REMAIN OPEN

Health Canada has sent out cease- and-desist letters to 13 illegal
marijuana dispensaries and compassion clubs across the country,
warning the RCMP could raid them if they do not shut down immediately,
even those in cities where local police have mostly tolerated them.

The department sent the letters on Wednesday demanding the
dispensaries stop "all activities with controlled substances"
immediately and submit a written statement confirming this action by
Sept. 21. The threat is the first indication the federal government is
prepared to intervene directly to shut down Canada's storefront
dispensaries, most of which operate in Vancouver and Victoria.

In those two cities, local governments have allowed them to
proliferate and either passed bylaws to regulate them or plan to do
so. The municipal police forces have largely stood by while pot shops
flourished. A Health Canada spokesman confirmed late on Thursday that
the letters are part of a campaign to monitor and prevent such stores
from selling or advertising pot. It is overseen by a special
department task force that was created at the beginning of August
after Health Minister Rona Ambrose pledged a crackdown on
dispensaries.

The letters said the dispensaries are advertising the sale of
marijuana in contravention of two federal laws. The spokesman would
not give further details of the alleged violations, but said the
department will attempt to work with the offending parties to
"encourage compliance."

Earlier this year, Ms. Ambrose warned Vancouver city councillors not
to proceed with their plan to regulate dispensaries, and instead to
shut them down, concerns that Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson quickly
brushed aside. On Thursday, Mr. Robertson called the warning letters
"curious."

"Vancouver responded to a real problem with marijuana dispensaries
proliferating all over the city =C2=85 because of a complete lack of
federal regulation on this," Mr. Robertson said, adding that he has
not received details about Health Canada's plans, but hopes it
"actually does something meaningful here."

The letter e-mailed to Vancouver's B. C. Compassion Club Society,
Canada's oldest medical pot dispensary, threatened that if it did not
comply with the demands the RCMP would be called in "for enforcement
action as they deem necessary."

"The sale and advertising of marijuana is illegal," the letter says.
"You are encouraging Canadians to engage in conduct that could also
expose them to criminal liability."

Jamie Shaw, spokeswoman for the compassion club and president of the
Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries, said at least
two of British Columbia's oldest dispensaries have also received the
letter, which she called puzzling, because her non-profit has long
sold marijuana to its members and has never advertised beyond those
people. Her group's lawyer has asked the government for further
details on the references to advertising and criminal liability for
its clients, all of whom have a doctor's prescription to use medical
marijuana.

"If they think we're just going to close down in two weeks and cut off
all our patients, they really don't understand where we're coming
from," Ms. Shaw said. "We've always been willing to risk arrest."

These stores and clubs are illegal because they procure and sell their
products outside the federal medical marijuana system, which was
overhauled last year to allow industrial-scale production of pot
products that are mailed directly to licensed patients.

Neither Vancouver police nor the B. C. RCMP would comment on the
letter or the prospect of Mounties investigating shops outside their
jurisdiction. VPD spokesman Constable Brian Montague said the two
forces have a great relationship and "out of courtesy we would speak
to one another" if investigations cross boundaries.

Neil Boyd, head of Simon Fraser University's criminology school and an
expert on illegal drugs, said, in theory, the Mounties could
investigate a Health Canada complaint and raid a Vancouver pot shop,
but in practice such a move "would really create an awful lot of
unnecessary conflict."

"I don't think the Conservative government is on the [ right] side of
history. When it comes to cannabis, they're very much out of step in
their own approach in terms of medical marijuana," Prof. Boyd said.
"It is really quite bizarre that they're using a mail-order system for
marijuana as medicine; that's not the way medicine is usually
dispensed. Medicine is usually dispensed through a visit to a
physician and through a pharmacy."

Jerry Martin, who runs a dispensary in Whitewood, Sask., said he was
very worried when he received the Health Canada letter on Wednesday.
He said he does not know if he will be able to continue his three-
year-old business, despite having no problems with the local RCMP
detachment.
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MAP posted-by: Matt