Pubdate: Thu, 08 Jun 2017 Source: Record, The (Kitchener, CN ON) Copyright: 2017 Metroland Media Group Ltd. Contact: http://www.therecord.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/225 Author: Greg Mercer Page: A1 DISPENSARY OWNERS HOPE FOR DISCHARGE 'Is it justice in the community?' - Judge criticizes Waterloo Regional Police decision to launch a raid KITCHENER - A provincial court judge criticized the Waterloo Regional Police's decision to raid an illegal marijuana dispensary in uptown Waterloo last summer, suggesting a warning might have been sufficient to close it down. Instead, a young Kitchener couple were in court Wednesday, facing criminal convictions for operating a dispensary they say only sold cannabis to adults with medical marijuana licences. Justice Colin Westman wondered aloud why their Waterloo Dispensary, which sold marijuana out of a second-floor business on King Street, was busted by police in August when other local dispensaries were given written warnings a few months later. "There's evidence to suggest if your client had been warned of this, she wouldn't be here today," the judge said. "Is it justice in the community when one person gets prosecuted and the person next door doesn't?" The Crown, after initially seeking jail time, is now asking for $10,000 fines for Nour Louka, 30, and her husband, Shady Louka, 31, who both pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking. Her husband also pleaded guilty to careless storage of a 9 mm Glock handgun. Nour Louka's lawyer, Paul Lewin, is seeking an absolute discharge. He described his client as a churchgoing, Sunday school teacher-in-training who ran the dispensary because she wanted to help other medical marijuana users. She's a licensed user herself, he said, with a prescription to manage chronic pain from a 2015 car crash. Lewin said she only "broke even" financially with the dispensary. A decision in the case was reserved until after the sentencing hearing is resumed later this month, and Shady Louka's lawyer Sean Safa can offer his submissions. But the judge didn't leave much suspense as to where he's leaning, expressing his hesitancy to give criminal records to two people without any prior convictions. With the federal government planning to legalize recreational marijuana next July, Justice Westman suggested it was "foolish" to prosecute people to the full extent of the law when legislation is about to change. "You're dealing with two beautiful people and now tragically they have to have a criminal record?" Westman asked. "If they had waited another year or two they wouldn't be here. But they jumped the line and now they have to pay for it?" Police seized more than 483 grams of dried cannabis, 13 grams of cannabis resin and 312 marijuana edibles from Nour Louka's car the day they arrested her, after a three-day surveillance operation last summer, court heard. Her husband, who also has a licence to use medical marijuana, was arrested with more than $10,000 cash in his trunk that same morning. Another $4,400 in Canadian money and $1,829 in U.S. currency was found at their house, plus a money counter. When officers searched their dispensary, they say they found 460 more grams of dried cannabis, 4.7 grams of resin and 61 marijuana edibles. At their home, a further 573 grams of pot, two grams of resin and 408 marijuana edibles were seized - plus four guns that were licensed to Shady Louka. But the judge said he was less concerned with the size of the operation than the "character" of the people involved. He also referred to the police warnings given to other marijuana dispensaries in the region, offering them the chance to close voluntarily - an option he suggested should have been given to the Loukas. Three other local dispensaries have since been raided by police, but that's after they defied police warnings that they were breaking the law. Lewin described the Loukas' dispensary as a "compassionate" business that was less focused on turning a profit than it was offering affordable marijuana to people in need. "It was roughly a break-even operation," Lewin said. "Her primary goal was to help people." The lawyer added that while the Loukas broke the law, the judge needs to consider the government's planned legislative changes when he considers sentencing. "We're at a unique moment in time in which the government has said we're going to be legalizing marijuana," Lewin said. "Of course the law is the law, but the government's statements on legalization aren't meaningless." Prosecutor Kathleen Nolan pointed out that trafficking will still be illegal after the law changes. And she added that there's no indication yet that the kind of dispensary the Loukas were operating will be legal under the new rules in 2018. She took exception to the judge's suggestion that there wasn't a whole lot of difference between what the Loukas did and the federally regulated marijuana producers who supply Canada's legal medical marijuana mail-order system. But Westman agreed with Lewin that storefront dispensaries, while illegal, offer a more convenient experience for customers. Lewin added that the federal task force on legalization recommended a retail option for users, and said many people are frustrated with the limitations of the current mail-order system. "Doctors don't want to prescribe medication without meeting their patients and exploring results. That makes sense," the judge said. He called it a "mitigating factor" that the Loukas advertised online that they only sold to people with licences to use medical marijuana. Nolan countered there's nothing to prove they abided by that policy. "I think you're minimizing what is hugely aggravating," she told Westman, pointing to case law around the illegality of storefront dispensaries. "I don't agree with you," the judge responded. "You and I are on a different page in terms of how we view this." Westman, who earlier said that legalization would be "opening Pandora's box," questioned what damage was done to society by the Loukas' dispensary. "So what are we penalizing here? Just a violation of the rule of the law?" he asked. A few decades ago, convictions for small amounts of marijuana possession were common. That doesn't happen anymore, and the courts need to reflect society's changing values around marijuana, Westman said. "What (the government) is essentially saying is, we thought it was dangerous. We don't think that's the case anymore. In fact, we think it has benefits," he said. The defence lawyers argued an absolute discharge was necessary because a conditional discharge would still be seen as a conviction in the eyes of U.S. authorities - and might affect the couple's travel to that country. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt