Pubdate: 12 Mar 1999
Source: Carillon (CN SN Edu)
Website: http://ursu.uregina.ca/~carillon/
Address: Rm. 227 Riddell Centre, University Of Regina, Regina, Sk. Can. S4S 0A2
Contact:  2002, The Carillon
Fax: (306)-586-7422
Author: Jamie Woods

HEMP RETAILER'S LICENSE REVOKED

VANCOUVER (CUP) -- The campaign to legalize marijuana suffered a major 
setback Monday after Vancouver City Council voted not to renew the business 
license of renegade retailer Hemp BC.

City council brought the store's owner, Sister Icee, also known as Shelly 
Francis, before it to question whether she had failed to properly manage 
the business by promoting and facilitating the use of an illicit substance.

The accusations stem primarily from Francis' association with Marc Emery, 
who she bought the business from last March.

During Emery's reign, city police raided Hemp BC three times. In 1996, 
police seized 60,000 marijuana seeds from the store. After that raid, 
police allege Emery sold seeds through a mail-order catalogue rather than 
over the counter.

Emery hired Icee to manage the store in 1997. She was manager when Emery 
was charged with trafficking marijuana to minors, an offense for which he 
was later fined $750.

After Icee bought the store, and signed a contract with the city promising 
not to sell, promote, or facilitate the sale of marijuana, the raids 
continued. Last September of last year, police seized pipes, bongs, and 
cash from the store. They also charged Icee with selling drug paraphernalia.

In denying Icee the license, Coun. Lynn Kennedy said her major concern was 
not the history of the store, but rather how it had economically impacted 
the area, namely the outskirts of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. She said 
that impact had been minimal.

"I spoke to members of the Gastown Business Association, and none of them 
said it made a huge difference," she said.

Not so, says music retailer Ian Benson, who argues Hemp BC has been a major 
economic boost to an otherwise impoverished area.

"It would be a shame if the city shut down stores in the area that benefit 
it economically.

Losing Hemp BC would be a real blow, no question," he said.

Icee argues the real reason the city denied Hemp BC the license was for 
political reasons.

"Change causes problems for people," she said. "We're a highly outspoken 
force and we're determined to see (marijuana) decriminalized for everybody."

She also said the ruling was hypocritical at a time when police are 
stepping back from charging people for simple possession.

"Marijuana is de facto decriminalized," she said.

Glenn Thompson, one of the workers at the store, says he expects the police 
will come to shut the store down as soon as they can get a court injunction.

"I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't want to go to jail, but I don't 
want to lose my job, either."

Icee said her lawyers are seeking a judicial review of the decision.