Pubdate: Thu, 20 Jul 2017
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Jacquie Miller
Page: A1

'BUDTENDERS' LEFT WAITING TO EXHALE

As Ottawa pot shops proliferate, criminal charges loom over
clerks

The number of illegal pot shops in the city is on the upswing, even as
the first wave of dispensary employees charged with drug trafficking
make their way through the courts.

There are now at least 17 dispensaries selling marijuana over the
counter, about the same number that were in town eight months ago when
police began raiding them.

The stores are pushing the boundaries as the clock ticks down to July
2018, the date the federal government has promised to make
recreational pot legal.

A few of the dispensaries cater only to medical patients. But many
sell to anyone over 19, offering a wide variety of weed, cannabis
concentrates, vape pens as well as candy, cookies and pop.

They are in discreet offices in suburban industrial parks;
boutique-like stores on Bank Street; shabby storefronts on Rideau
Street and Montreal Road; and private rooms hidden from public view in
head shops.

What they have in common is their popularity.

"A significant number of otherwise law-abiding citizens" are shopping
at dispensaries, noted an Ottawa judge Wednesday as he sentenced two
young employees who were working at a pot shop on Bank Street when it
was raided by police in January.

The "budtenders," ages 20 and 22, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking.
They received conditional discharges, which means they are registered
as guilty but will not have criminal records.

In April, two other Ottawa budtenders who pleaded guilty received
criminal convictions from another judge who said they had engaged in
"blatant drug dealing."

It's an indication of the varying approaches as courts, police and
prosecutors wrestle with what to do about the illegal shops and the
people who own and work in them.

A case in point is the differences between Ottawa and Toronto, which
have both seen a proliferation of dispensaries.

Police and city bylaw officers in Toronto launched a major offensive
after nearly 80 shops popped up almost overnight in the city in the
spring of 2016.

In one of the largest drug raids in the city's history, dubbed Project
Claudia, they swooped down on 43 shops in one day in May. As sporadic
raids continued in the whack-amole fight against the dispensaries, the
number of shops dipped as low as 38, according to Mark Sraga, a
spokesman for the city's Licensing & Standards division.

This spring, the number inched back up to about 60 shops. In the past
month, police have cracked down yet again, arresting dozens of people
in raids on the CannaClinic chain.

One shop was raided three times after it kept reopening.

The current toll after 14 months of police raids in Canada's largest
city?

A total of 312 people have faced criminal charges, according to the
Public Prosecution Service of Canada, the agency responsible for
prosecuting drug crimes. Selena Holder was struggling to pay her rent
with part-time jobs when a friend told her about a pot shop on Rideau
Street.

The Prosecution Service threw out the vast majority of the charges -
188 of 224 - that were laid against people in 2016. Some charges were
resolved after people signed a peace bond whose conditions included
not working in dispensaries. In other cases, the Crown decided there
wasn't enough evidence to proceed.

Jack Lloyd, a Toronto lawyer who represents dispensary employees, says
he hopes the Crown will also throw out the charges against the 88
people charged so far this year.

Offering peace bonds to so-called budtenders was a "progressive
approach" that recognized it's not in the public interest to prosecute
employees, many of whom are in their 20s and working for around
minimum wage, he said.

"The vast majority of people think it is a huge waste of resources to
charge people and prosecute them, especially when court resources are
limited."

OTTAWA: POLICE CRACK DOWN, BUT PROSECUTORS GO FOR CRIMINAL CONVICTIONS

In Ottawa, the dispensaries began to proliferate in the summer of
2016.

Police cracked down in November, raiding seven shops in two days.
Sporadic raids have continued, but there have been none since March.
The toll? A total of 29 people charged with drug trafficking offences
in raids on 14 pot shops.

Prosecutors in Ottawa have not thrown out any of the charges. In the
four cases where employees pleaded guilty, prosecutors have asked for
criminal convictions to deter others and to underline the "serious and
prevalent problem" the dispensaries present. The country's marijuana
laws haven't changed yet, and even when they do the government will
not allow sales of the drug from unregulated stores, the Crown argued.

Products in the pot shops are from the black market, and Health Canada
warns they may be unsafe.

Crowns in different cities can exercise discretion in deciding whether
it's in the public interest to prosecute each case.

CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES

At some of the trials, lawyers in both cities will make constitutional
arguments to have charges thrown out. Canadian courts have ruled that
under the Charter of Rights patients have the right to "reasonable
access" to medical marijuana. Activists have long argued that
dispensaries provide such access because not every patient can use the
legal system for obtaining medical marijuana. Health Canada-licensed
producers, who sell marijuanaby mail order, sometimes don't carry the
strains or type of products they need or run out of them, they argue.

In four cases set for trial next spring in Ottawa, time has been set
aside for constitutional arguments. In Toronto, Paul Lewin, the lawyer
representing many of the dispensary employees there, says he will also
be making such arguments, but declined to say for how many clients or
when the cases will be heard.

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[sidebar]

POT SHOPS IN OTTAWA: CHARGES AND PROSECUTIONS

29: People charged in raids at 14 shops since November
2016

4: People who have pleaded guilty. Two received suspended sentences,
which carries a criminal conviction, and two received conditional
discharges, in which a guilty plea is registered but there is no
criminal conviction.

7: People whose cases are set for trial

2: People who will appear in court to enter a plea

16: People still making their way through the court
process

POT SHOPS IN TORONTO: CHARGES AND PROSECUTIONS

312: People charged since May 2016

188: People who had charges thrown out after signing a peace bond or
because prosecutors decided there was not enough evidence to proceed

10: People who have trial dates or preliminary hearings scheduled.
Most are owners or managers of dispensaries.

108: People whose cases are making their way through the court
process

3: People who pleaded guilty and were sentenced

1: Person wanted on a bench warrant

2: Corporations owning dispensaries that pleaded guilty
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MAP posted-by: Matt