Pubdate: Fri, 30 Sep 2016
Source: Peterborough Examiner, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 Peterborough Examiner
Contact: http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/letters
Website: http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2616
Author: Joelle Kovach
Page: A1

SECOND RAID AT POT SHOP

Cannabis Culture founder says two people were arrested

Cannabis Culture was raided again and shut down by city police
Thursday morning.

The marijuana store at 282 George St. N. opened earlier this month and
was raided by police within days, on Sept. 15.

It was shut down until Tuesday morning, when it reopened at 10 a.m.
The store drew lineups until Thursday at about 10:30 a.m. when police
arrived.

At least four Peterborough Police officers were seen inside the store
following the raid.

One man was seen being taken into a police car, in the alleyway behind
the store. A statement from police, released shortly after the raid,
didn't mention any arrests.

But Marc Emery, the marijuana advocate who founded the Cannabis
Culture chain of stores, tweeted that Maranda Gallant and Erick
Woolsey were arrested.

They were working at the store. Gallant was also arrested in the prior
raid and was out on bail.

Richard Standen, the owner of the store, is also out on bail. One of
the conditions of his bail was that he not enter the store. He told

earlier this month it would reopen under the supervision of
others.

Customers continued to arrive at the store to find it closed,
following the raid. One citizen, Rodney Marois, said he was glad the
pot store was closed.

"I hope it stays closed, because it's illegal," Marois
said.

Cannabis Culture is in the space that used to be the furniture store
Circus.

Business owners along the same block said they were glad the store had
been raided again because they were unhappy about the crowds loitering
and smoking outside.

None of the business owners wanted to comment for the
record.

But Terry Guiel, the executive director of the Downtown Business
Improvement Area association, said he's had complaints from
neighbouring business owners about the lineups.

He's also hearing from neighbouring businesses that they're unhappy an
illegal trade is happening on the street. Guiel said there's nothing
the DBIA can do: That's a job for the police.

Meanwhile he also said marijuana is expected to be legalized soon, and
it's likely to mean a proliferation of these types of shops. "We're
going to have to learn to adapt."

A Trent University business student, Cameron Ogden, said earlier this
week he also plans to open a marijuana store in downtown Peterborough
called the Trent Holistic Centre that he said would only sell
marijuana for medical use.

Meanwhile RCMP arrested three people Thursday in a raid on a pot shop
in Surrey, B.C. "So it's happening all across the country. I think
it's because they've (law enforcement) been bolstered by the federal
government, who has made it very clear that they intend for the law to
continue," Cannabis Culture co-founder and co-owner Jodie Emery told
Postmedia said of the "very disturbing trend," noting that enforcement
seemed to be even "heavier" than the experience under the previous
Harper government.

But beyond the regulation of dispensaries, Emery hopes to see
decriminalization come first.

"I'd say that (Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau and the Liberals
desperately need to stop arresting people, at least, for possession,"
she said. "For me, when it comes to the details of how to sell it -
whatever, we'll figure it out - but the No. 1 reason we should
legalize is to stop the criminalization of peaceful people."

Currently, marijuana can be prescribed for medicinal purposes in
Canada, but it remains illegal for recreational use.

In August, the federal government announced new rules that allow
patients to grow medical marijuana for their own use or designate a
grower to do so for them. Dispensaries, however, remain illegal.

Various municipalities have taken up their own stands on how to deal
with the many marijuana-related storefronts that have popped up in
recent years.

The federal government has promised it will table legislation in the
spring 2017 to decriminalize marijuana.

- -- with files from Stephane Ip, Postmedia Network
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt