Stephanie Ip, Vancouver Sun
Three people were arrested and released on Thursday as RCMP investigate a Surrey marijuana dispensary.
Around 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Surrey RCMP officers executed a search warrant on Da Kine Glass and Gifts at 10330 152nd St. in Guildford, according to the shop’s owner. Officers had been stationed outside the shop for about 24 hours awaiting the warrant.
“They won’t tell us anything,” said Don Briere, owner of the Weeds Glass and Gifts chain, which includes the Da Kine Guildford shop. Briere said officers were boxing up items in the shop and obtaining security camera footage on Thursday evening.
Officers arrived Wednesday mid-afternoon to the shop, and had been standing by since, Briere told Postmedia on Thursday afternoon. Following the police arrival, Briere said he ordered staff to close the shop early and to comply with officers. The dispensary did not open as scheduled on Thursday morning, with some customers and patients being turned away, he said.
“I don’t know what that’s costing them, but it’s costing a lot of money in every sense of the word,” said Briere, who maintained there were likely other more pressing matters police could have been attending to, instead of standing guard outside his business overnight.
“We want to know what’s going too – we want to know why they’re wasting our resources.”
These are screengrabs from a security camera outside Da Kine Glass and Gifts at 90-10330 152 St. in Guildford, Surrey. The image shows Surrey RCMP officers stationed outside in the early morning hours on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. Da Kine is part of the Weeds Glass and Gifts chain.
He also notes that Da Kine has never been fined, unlike shops in his chain which were issued fines when Vancouver introduced regulations and licensing for dispensaries.
According to RCMP Sgt. Alanna Dunlop, officers were sent to the Surrey shop on Wednesday when a controlled drugs and substances act investigation was launched, and stayed there as RCMP prepared a search warrant.
Dunlop said three people were arrested and later released, but had no details on the reason for the arrests or when the arrests occurred.
“We received information that the location was possibly selling marijuana products,” said Dunlop in an email. “Access to cannabis is only permitted under the terms and conditions set out in the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations. Storefronts selling marijuana are not authorized to sell cannabis for medical or any other purposes.”
Dunlop said such operations were “illegally supplied, and provide products that are unregulated and may be unsafe” and that illegal storefronts distributing and selling cannabis products are subject to law enforcement.
On the Weeds website, a notice was posted Thursday notifying customers of the police activity outside their Surrey location.
“Surrey RCMP have shut down our Guildford location. RCMP have stationed uniformed officers outside of 90-10330 152nd St, a non-violent medical cannabis dispensary,” the notice reads.
“Weeds needs your support to show taxpayers will not support the misuse of public funds to restrict patient access to cannabis, while more serious crimes could be attended to.”
The message also encouraged supporters to stop by the location or make phone calls to local police and government to express their concerns. Below the message are several screengrabs from a security camera showing RCMP officers posted outside the shop.
Jas Rehal, Surrey’s bylaw manager, said the city intends to continue cracking down on illegal dispensaries.
“Right now, it’s illegal to have these dispensaries and until time when the federal government actually changes these regulations … our bylaws will stay in place,” said Rehal. “Once those changes happen in Ottawa, we’ll look at revising our bylaws accordingly.”
Rehal said there was one other dispensary he knew of that was in contravention of bylaws and was being dealt with by police, but maintained there were no other dispensaries operating illegally in Surrey.
Cannabis advocate Jodie Emery told Postmedia that a Cannabis Culture store owned by her and husband Marc was raided Thursday in Peterborough, Ont.
“So it’s happening all across the country. I think it’s because they’ve (law enforcement) been bolstered by the federal government, who has made it very clear that they intend for the law to continue,” she said of the “very disturbing trend,” noting that enforcement seemed to be even “heavier” than the experience under the previous Harper government.
But beyond the regulation of dispensaries, Emery hopes to see decriminalization come first.
“I’d say that (Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau and the Liberals desperately need to stop arresting people, at least, for possession,” she said. “For me, when it comes to the details of how to sell it – whatever, we’ll figure it out – but the No. 1 reason we should legalize is to stop the criminalization of peaceful people.”
Currently, marijuana can be prescribed for medicinal purposes in Canada, but it remains illegal for recreational use.
In August, the federal government announced new rules that allow patients to grow medical marijuana for their own use or designate a grower to do so for them. Dispensaries, however, remain illegal.
Various municipalities have taken up their own stands on how to deal with the many marijuana-related storefronts that have popped up in recent years.
While Surrey passed zoning by laws to prohibit all unlicensed marijuana dispensaries, some municipalities, such as Vancouver, have opted to regulate them.
When Vancouver’s regulations went into effect in May, as many as 135 businesses were identified as being in contravention of bylaws, which dictated that pot shops be in commercial zones, and be at least 300 metres away from schools, community centres, and other dispensaries.
Earlier this summer, Briere had filed a constitutional challenge against the City of Vancouver, trying to keep his Vancouver-based dispensaries open.
Briere’s suit argued that the city’s licensing and zoning bylaws for dispensaries “unduly restrict access to medical marijuana” and infringe on Charter rights. He had also filed a similar challenge in Abbotsford, where one of two shops he operates was closed after the city obtained an injunction.
The federal government has promised it will table legislation in the spring 2017 to decriminalize marijuana.
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