Pubdate: Thu, 08 Sep 2016
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Jesse McLean
Page: A1

DURHAM COP OWNED UNLICENSED POT SHOP

Force gave him its blessing for medical weed shop, which offers
products that are illegal to sell

A Durham police officer for six months co-owned a medical marijuana
company that is not licensed and offers consumers pot brownies and
other products the government says are illegal to sell.

And veteran Const. Phil Edgar, who once received a commendation for
numerous marijuana busts, did it with the blessing of his police force.

After the Star began asking questions, Edgar said he "stepped back"
from the marijuana company - Living On Inc. - and is weighing whether
he wants to continue a career of policing or branch into the budding
medical weed business.

Durham Regional Police Service refused to answer questions about
whether it was appropriate for an active police officer to be involved
in this kind of business, and why it approved Edgar's request to
co-own the medical marijuana company. Living On is a medical marijuana
company headquartered on First Nations land in Port Perry. It does not
have a licence from Health Canada to sell medical pot.

Its website advertises various kinds of edible marijuana products -
pot brownies, gummies, a weed-infused chocolate hazelnut spread called
"Chrontella" - that are illegal to sell in Canada because the
government says they pose a risk of overdose or unintentional
ingestion by children.

"From my view, everything Living On was doing was ethical and legal.
If we're helping people, and it's all ethical and legal, then I have
no problem with it," Edgar said in an interview.

According to a police board document, the Durham force received a
legal opinion "that it would be required to approve" Edgar's ownership
of a "marijuana dispensary."

Under Ontario law, officers must receive the force's permission to
have a second job or have ownership in a company that may appear to be
a conflict of interest or interfere with their duties as a cop. In the
past, Durham has denied requests from officers looking to get side
jobs as bartenders or security guards.

Edgar has been a Durham cop for 22 years. When not on patrol, he is
also a businessman who owns a bustling gas station across the street
from Living On's headquarters on the Mississaugas of Scugog Island
First Nation, of which Edgar is a member.

He lives nearby with two palatial homes nestled along Lake Scugog, the
product of what he described as "years of smart investments and good
business practices." He owns a fleet of high-end cars, including an
Audi R8 wrapped in green vinyl film emblazoned with the dispensary's
company name.

"I do policing right now because I enjoy helping people," Edgar said.
"I don't do it for the money."

A well-liked and respected officer, Edgar once received an award from
his force for police work that involved seizing more than $530,000 of
marijuana during just seven traffic stops. He said it's important to
make the distinction between medical marijuana and street drugs.

"People are talking about marijuana like it's a poison to society.
People who are using medicinal marijuana are people who are looking
for an alternative to the pharmaceutical drugs that aren't working or
are causing negative side effects," he said. "There are police
officers in the province who are using medicinal marijuana."

Edgar joined Living On in December 2015 and said he filed a secondary
employment request with the force around the same time.

The force said it would not discuss the issue of Edgar's
request.

"We view any secondary employment request as an employer-employee
matter and therefore not open for public discussion," police spokesman
Dave Selby said in a statement.

He said each request "is reviewed by the service and evaluated based
on considerations including case law and the Police Services Act."

The police chief has the final call on whether a secondary employment
is approved.

The Star could not determine what information was available to the
force or its lawyers when it approved Edgar's involvement.

Until recently, Living On's website stated that the company is
"licensed by Health Canada to sell and distribute marijuana for
medical purposes." It has since dropped the claim from its website.

"Dispensaries and other sellers of marijuana who are not licensed
under the current law are illegal," a Health Canada spokeswoman said
in a statement.

"These establishments operate outside of the legal framework and
provide products from illegal sources that are untested, unregulated
and may be unsafe."

Living On is also offering products that are not approved for sale
under current drug laws in Canada.

Despite a 2015 Supreme Court decision that ruled medical marijuana
patients can consume the drug in any form they choose, Health Canada
allows licensed venders to sell the product only as a bud, leaf or
oil.

Edibles, such as cookies or gummies, remain illegal to sell, the
government said, "because these products may be particularly appealing
to children and youth and can pose a risk of overdose or unintentional
ingestion."

Living On's website requires customers to have a medical marijuana
prescription and a membership before they can begin shopping.

While the company lists edibles and other items on its website, Living
On does not actually sell medical marijuana products, said one of its
co-owners, Kris Khan. Instead, he said it currently just refers
customers to other companies that are actually licensed by the
government to sell medical marijuana.

"We're not selling," Khan said, adding that they don't take any cut
for referrals.

However, Green Penguin Delights, a B.C. company that produces edibles,
told the Star that it supplies marijuana products to Living On.

"We don't sell to the public. We only sell to the dispensaries," said
Green Penguin Delight's Brina Levitt, explaining that the dispensaries
then distribute the products to patients who have valid
prescriptions.

Living On's website lists more than a dozen different edibles under
its products page.

Khan said in a followup text message to the Star that the Green
Penguin edibles are "lab tested" and that Living On "will be following
the law all the way."

Const. Edgar said his role with the company was promotional and he had
nothing to do with day-to-day operations.

There are only 35 companies licensed by the federal government to
produce and sell medical marijuana, that supply by mail close to
70,000 Canadians with fresh or dried buds and cannabis oils.

There are another 400,000 Canadians, according to one academic's
research, who buy their marijuana for medical purposes from the black
market, including storefront dispensaries and compassion clubs.

Cracking down on these illegal vendors is left to local
police.

In Toronto, officers have raided numerous dispensaries and charged the
operators with various drug offences. Other cities have taken to
regulating the storefront businesses through bylaws and licences.

In Durham region, where Edgar works, police say they are monitoring
the dispensaries that continue to pop up in its cities' cores, trying
to corner their own piece of the estimated $80-million medical
marijuana market.

It was the high market evaluation that attracted Edgar to Living On in
December 2015.

"It's a new industry that people are changing their views about. It's
going to be decriminalized in this country and the opportunity for an
investment such as this is something that intrigued me," he said.

The officer co-owned the marijuana company with Khan and Rennie Goose,
who owns a popular smoke shop wedged between Edgar's gas station and
Living On's yet-to-open storefront shop.

The focus of the company, said co-owner Khan, is on developing
tamper-proof vending machines that patients can use to safely buy
their medical marijuana, something they could license to other companies.

Edgar said he left the company as of July 1 to avoid the unnecessary
attention it was garnering from the media and others in the force.

"I have to do some serious soul searching to decide: do I stay in the
policing industry or do I want to branch out into businesses like
this?" he said.
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MAP posted-by: Matt