Pubdate: Sat, 05 Nov 2016
Source: Ottawa Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact: http://www.ottawasun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://www.ottawasun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/329
Author: Jacquie Miller
Pages: 4-5

OTTAWA COPS LIGHT UP SIX POT SHOPS

Arrest nine employees in bid to curb illicit trade

Ottawa police raided six marijuana dispensaries Friday morning,
closing a big chunk of the city's pot shops in one fell swoop.

It's the first police action against the dispensaries that have been
popping up in Ottawa, and is bound to ratchet up the heated debate
over what to do about the illegal shops.

Teams of police officers, some in black balaclavas, descended on six
dispensaries shortly after 10 a.m. and emerged with plastic bags
stuffed with jars of dried weed and cannabis cookies, candy and pop. A
search warrant on a seventh dispensary, which had already closed due
to an eviction, was executed Thursday.

The targeted shops are operated by a B.C.-based outfit that moved into
Ottawa this summer, opening dispensaries called Green Tree, WeeMedical
and CannaGreen.

Police arrested nine store employees. They will face charges that
include possession for the purpose of trafficking and possession of
proceeds of crime. Some of the customers in the shops when police
arrived were questioned and released.

Police said they seized dried marijuana, hash, hash oil, THC
concentrate (shatter), cannabis-laced edibles and cash.

Ottawa police Chief Charles Bordeleau said he hopes the raids will
serve as a warning. "We're hopeful that today will send a clear
message that the police service and our community do not want these
locations because they are illegal and there may be consequences from
an investigative perspective that they should be put on notice."

The police investigation showed that the raided shops were not selling
only to licensed medical marijuana users, he said. Police continue to
investigate the other shops, he said. There are still about 10
dispensaries in Ottawa.

Police employ other tactics against the dispensaries, too, such as
intercepting marijuana deliveries and "drop-ins" by officers, said
Bordeleau. Police have also sent letters to landlords of dispensaries
warning them about the consequences of allowing illegal activities on
their properties. One landlord evicted a CannaGreen dispensary on
Roydon Place earlier this week.

The chief rejected the suggestion that police haven't been quick
enough to act, saying investigations take time. The first dispensary
opened in Ottawa a year ago, but most have popped up since the summer.

The raids were without incident. Employees were handcuffed and taken
into custody. Police videotaped inside the stores, bagged up the
merchandise and hauled it away in cardboard boxes and plastic cartons.
They removed the ATMs in stores.

Police have faced pressure from some residents and city councillors to
close the shops. But other Ottawans support the dispensaries or
believe it's a waste of money to close them since the federal
government has promised to legalize recreational pot.

Reaction to the raids reflected both views.

A customer who arrived at the CannaGreen Dispensary in Orleans as it
was being raided said he uses marijuana to control his multiple
sclerosis symptoms. Her sister uses it to control the pain of her
Stage 4 breast cancer instead of morphine.

"Morphine is so addictive," said the 50-year-old man, who didn't want
to give his name. "What's the worst that can happen with marijuana?
You wake up surrounded by Mars bars wrappers."

The man said he used CannaGreen's edible products and found the shop
clean and professional. "What am I going to do now?"

The shop opened on St. Joseph Boulevard this fall to a chorus of
complaints from parents whose children attend the Kumon tutoring
school and The Edge Taekwon-do Academy that are housed in the same
building. Some parents said they didn't want their children exposed to
a pot shop. Others were concerned about people driving too fast or
smoking pot in the parking lot shared by all tenants in the building.

"This is good news!" said Nawal Zayat, a mother of two young children
who attend the tutoring and taekwon-do. She's sympathetic to people
who need medical marijuana, but said it's not the right location.

When the Sun visited the shop, staff sold marijuana to anyone who
presented ID proving they were 19. Customers were asked to fill out a
form and told a doctor would contact them within five months.

Medical marijuana is legal, but not if sold from a store. Patients
with a doctor's prescription can grow a small amount for themselves,
or purchase by mail from a grower licensed by Health Canada.

The seven raided shops are sparse, featuring cases of cannabis
products and an ATM. Staff generally refuse to comment and say they
aren't allowed to reveal the names of the managers or owners.

A woman who answered the phone at the WeeMedical Dispensary Society in
Vancouver on Friday said the company's principal, Justin Liu, was in
Ottawa Friday but "did not want to be connected to any reporters."

Liu's voicemail was full. He has not answered numerous phone messages.
Emailed requests for information sent to the Green Tree, WeeMedical
and CannaGreen company websites have not been returned.

Several customers outside the Rideau Street WeeMedical shop said they
were upset by the raid. "It's a great injustice in a neighbourhood
where a lot of people end up being busted for simple pot possession,"
said Chris VonBormann, who described herself as the "champion of
people in Lowertown."

"There's a huge amount of crime in this neighbourhood that's related
to pot," she said. "You set up a place like this, you have a lot less
people going through the (criminal justice ) system. It saves a lot of
money. And a lot of people who have illnesses and ailments come here.

"Trudeau's mandated to legalize this stuff. So where are you,
Justin?"

But at the strip mall on Roydon Place near Merivale Road and Hunt
Club, the owner of The Hobby Shop was happy to see the pot shop next
door closed.

"It's over, and I'm very relieved," said Bill Chappell, who was upset
about the smell of pot wafting into his store. His customers were also
spooked by some of the customers at the CannaGreen outlet that opened
there this fall. In recent weeks the shop was operating from a crude
takeout window carved into the plywood that covered the front of the
storefront after a truck drove into it.

The landlord, who says he had no idea the "medical dispensary" would
be selling marijuana, evicted CannaGreen earlier this week. The
bailiff enforced the eviction order on Wednesday. The drug squad
arrived Thursday with a search warrant for the drug raid.

Ottawa Coun. Mathieu Fleury, who had called on police to close
dispensaries in his ward, applauded the police action. He has pushed
the police brass for an explanation of why illegal shops were allowed
to operate.

Most locally owned marijuana dispensaries remained open Friday,
including Magna Terra Health Services shops on Carling Avenue and in
Stittsville; the OMD on Antares Drive; and the Ottawa Cannabis
Dispensary on Laperrierre Avenue.

The Capital City Cannabis Clinics on Bank Street at Hunt Club has been
closed for a week, since an employee was robbed at gunpoint. A sign on
the door said it's closed for an indeterminate amount of time.

The Weeds Glass & Gifts store on Bank Street closed Friday after
manager Kristina Simpson heard about the raids around 11:30 a.m. "Just
in case anything did happen, we didn't want a whole store full of
customers," she said.

Her shop caters to medical marijuana users, she said. "I'm hoping that
not every single one of the shops in Ottawa is raided and has to shut
down."

She hadn't decided whether the store would open Saturday.

- - with files from Blair Crawford, Joanne Laucius, Joe Lofaro, Jon
Willing, Megan Gillis, Tony Caldwell, Wayne Cuddington, Darren Brown
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt