Pubdate: Wed, 02 Nov 2016
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Jacquie Miller
Page: A6

WHY ONE 'BUDTENDER' WORKS AT A POT SHOP

Because medical marijuana saved my life, says user Kristina
Simpson

Kristina Simpson says she feels lucky to have landed a job at a Bank
Street store where the staff feel like family and customers are
grateful for the products she sells.

But when she steps behind the counter at Weeds Glass & Gifts each
morning, she brushes aside a nagging fear: Will this be the day police
arrive to arrest her for drug trafficking?

It's an occupational hazard for employees at the city's 17 illegal
marijuana dispensaries.

These days there's more than the sweet smell of cannabis wafting
through the air at the pot shops. There's chatter about whether Ottawa
police will raid the dispensaries, and if so, which ones.

Ottawa police have warned landlords of dispensaries to expect police
action if illegal activities continue. Several city councillors want
them closed. The news across Ontario is ominous: Nine cities have
recently raided dispensaries, following the lead of Toronto, which
began a crackdown on pot shops dubbed Project Claudia last May.

The "budtenders" like Simpson who sell dried weed, cookies, candy and
oils may have the riskiest retail jobs in Canada. Some have been
charged with trafficking marijuana and possessing the proceeds of
crime after police raids.

Of the 90 people arrested in Toronto's Project Claudia raids, 80 were
"under the age of 30, making 12 to 15 bucks an hour, and doing
something they believed in," said Michael McLellan, the volunteer
representative for a coalition of Toronto medical marijuana
dispensaries.

Some budtenders chose the job because they are committed to the cause
of legalization, said McLellan. Others think it's cool to work at a
pot shop. Many have friends and relatives who use medical marijuana.

"They are helping people and they also think, 'What's the big deal?'
at the same time."

Saddling budtenders with a criminal record is unjust, considering the
federal government has promised to legalize recreational pot and
medical pot is already legal, he maintains. "Perhaps they are taking
risks without considering fully what that means, but they also aren't
going in there with some nefarious motives. I think they should be
given the benefit of the doubt. The criminal charges are extreme,
under the circumstances."

Back at Weeds Glass & Gifts, the harsh possibilities seem distant. The
shop has a boutique-like feel, with wood floors, an exposed brick wall
and neat glass cases filled with dried weed and cannabis cookies,
candy, oils and concentrates.

Simpson earns $14 an hour, because she's the manager.

It's an amount that can't compensate her for the lifelong cost of a
criminal record or even jail time. And she could earn more as a server
in a bar or restaurant, her former occupations. Why does she take the
risk? Because medical marijuana saved her life, and she wants to help
others benefit from it too, said Simpson. She has a gentle manner and
was open about her health struggles.

She has suffered from severe anxiety and depression since she was a
child, but the crisis didn't hit until she was in college. She was
stressed out, studying, working on the side, drinking too much, and
wondering why she felt sad all the time.

"I knew it was a problem when I ended up on the bathroom floor with a
razor in my hand."

After a stint in hospital, Simpson turned to her doctor for help.
"Within five minutes I had a prescription for Cipralex." It was the
start of a rocky relationship with pharmaceuticals.

"I'm 26. I've been on seven different anti-anxiety medications," said
Simpson. All of them had "bizarre and horrifying" side effects, from
nausea to the sensation of electrical pulses behind her eyes. They
also didn't help her mood disorder, and she felt herself spiralling
downward.

Last winter Simpson wandered into the newly-opened Weeds dispensary on
Montreal Road. She was a recreational pot user and had begun to notice
that smoking not only made her high - it calmed her mind.

She talked to Weeds staff about the medicinal value of cannabis, and
did her own research. "My jaw just hit the ground. I had no idea."

Soon Simpson was working at Weeds and weaning herself off
pharmaceuticals. She experimented with different doses and strains of
cannabis.

She now smokes about one-and-a-half or two grams of pot a day. "It's
been like a miracle, almost."

The stigma against marijuana can be difficult, Simpson said softly,
tears springing to her eyes. She hates the "lazy stoner" stereotype.
"I don't smoke to get high. I just smoke to get relief.

"I've never felt better. I feel like a human being
again."

All the staff at Weeds on Bank Street are medical users, said Simpson.
They take care of each other and the customers. At one point she
paused to answer a phone call from a patient who will be arriving in a
wheelchair. The store hasn't installed a ramp yet, but that's no
problem, she said brightly. "We're going to bring out a big piece of
plywood for you."

Medical marijuana is legal, but selling it from stores is not.
Patients with a doctor's prescription can either grow small amounts
for themselves, or purchase from a producer licensed by Health Canada,
such as Tweed in Smiths Falls. It's sent by mail.

If a Weeds outlet is raided and employees are arrested, the company
will pay for a lawyer to represent them, said Don Briere, the cannabis
crusader who is president of the B.C.-based chain of 23
dispensaries.

Many of Ottawa's dispensaries - seven of the 17 - are run by another
B.C.-based outfit that operates stores called Green Tree, WeeMedical
and CannaGreen.

Staff at those shops won't speak on the record, and say they've been
told not to identify the managers or owners. But half-a-dozen
budtenders have chatted with the Citizen.

None of the employees feared being arrested. "At the end of the day,
what could they do?" said one, who earns $12 an hour. "I just work
here. I don't own the place. Maybe (police) could hold me for 24 hours?"

Most did not realize that budtenders in Toronto had been charged. "You
mean I could go to jail?" said one employee who also earns $12 an
hour. Several said if they were arrested, charges would probably be
dropped.

There's no guarantee. Charges against staff at two of the 43 Toronto
dispensaries raided last May have been stayed, according to the Public
Prosecution Service of Canada.

Charges against staff at the remaining dispensaries are making their
way through the court system.

In Ottawa, police say they are investigating the dispensaries. The
Prosecution Service has indicated it is willing to prosecute "viable"
cases, but dispensaries must be considered individually, not as a
group, according to a briefing note from the deputy chief. Police
consider whether there have been complaints from the public in
deciding which dispensary investigations have priority.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt