A Mission man who previously operated a “compassion club” has been convicted of all five marijuana-trafficking counts with which he was charged in late 2015.
Bob Woolsey, 65, was sentenced Thursday in Abbotsford provincial court to time served.
His trial began last November, but there were some breaks in the proceedings.
Woolsey and his wife, Dawn Parker, were arrested by the Mission RCMP on Nov. 25, 2015 after police busted their marijuana facility in Deroche.
At the time, the couple described themselves as the volunteer managers of the BC Pain Society’s compassion club – located at 40810 Taylor Rd. – which they opened in February 2015.
The police investigation resulted in search warrants being executed at the couple’s commercial and residential properties and the subsequent laying of charges against Woolsey in August 2016.
Testimony presented at trial included that undercover officers posing as customers purchased product from Woolsey that included pain cream, candy and strains of marijuana with names such as “Pink Og” and “Purple Erckle.”
Woolsey represented himself in court and did not dispute the facts of the case as presented by the Crown.
But he argued during a hearing that ran in the midst of the trial that he had not been operating contrary to the law.
He argued that at the time of his charges, it was not against the law to possess or sell marijuana, due to a portion of the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations that was ruled unconstitutional.
He fought to have his charges thrown out, but the judge ruled that at the time Woolsey was busted, “it was in fact an offence to traffic in marijuana” under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
Woolsey said in court that he formed the compassion club to provide a closer location than Vancouver for people in the Fraser Valley who require marijuana to relieve medical symptoms.
