Health Canada warns RCMP may act if pot dispensaries remain open

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jason73

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Health Canada has sent out cease-and-desist letters to 13 illegal marijuana dispensaries and compassion clubs across the country, warning the RCMP could raid them if they do not shut down immediately, even those in cities where local police have mostly tolerated them.

The department sent the letters on Wednesday demanding the dispensaries stop “all activities with controlled substances” immediately and submit a written statement confirming this action by Sept. 21. The threat is the first indication the federal government is prepared to intervene directly to shut down Canada’s storefront dispensaries, most of which operate in Vancouver and Victoria.

In those two cities, local governments have allowed them to proliferate and either passed bylaws to regulate them or plan to do so. The municipal police forces have largely stood by while pot shops flourished.

A Health Canada spokesman confirmed late on Thursday that the letters are part of a campaign to monitor and prevent such stores from selling or advertising pot. It is overseen by a special department task force that was created at the beginning of August after Health Minister Rona Ambrose pledged a crackdown on dispensaries.

The letters said the dispensaries are advertising the sale of marijuana in contravention of two federal laws. The spokesman would not give further details of the alleged violations, but said the department will attempt to work with the offending parties to “encourage compliance.”

Earlier this year, Ms. Ambrose warned Vancouver city councillors not to proceed with their plan to regulate dispensaries, and instead to shut them down, concerns that Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson quickly brushed aside. On Thursday, Mr. Robertson called the warning letters “curious.”

“Vancouver responded to a real problem with marijuana dispensaries proliferating all over the city … because of a complete lack of federal regulation on this,” Mr. Robertson said, adding that he has not received details about Health Canada’s plans, but hopes it “actually does something meaningful here.”

The letter e-mailed to Vancouver’s B.C. Compassion Club Society, Canada’s oldest medical pot dispensary, threatened that if it did not comply with the demands the RCMP would be called in “for enforcement action as they deem necessary.”

“The sale and advertising of marijuana is illegal,” the letter says. “You are encouraging Canadians to engage in conduct that could also expose them to criminal liability.”

Jamie Shaw, spokeswoman for the compassion club and president of the Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries, said at least two of British Columbia’s oldest dispensaries have also received the letter, which she called puzzling, because her non-profit has long sold marijuana to its members and has never advertised beyond those people. Her group’s lawyer has asked the government for further details on the references to advertising and criminal liability for its clients, all of whom have a doctor’s prescription to use medical marijuana.

“If they think we’re just going to close down in two weeks and cut off all our patients, they really don’t understand where we’re coming from,” Ms. Shaw said. “We’ve always been willing to risk arrest.”

These stores and clubs are illegal because they procure and sell their products outside the federal medical marijuana system, which was overhauled last year to allow industrial-scale production of pot products that are mailed directly to licensed patients.

The letter seems to suggest the federal government could be trying to work around local police forces by threatening to bring Mounties into lenient jurisdictions, said Dieter McPherson, a Victoria-based cannabis advocate and adviser to the Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries.

“They have few avenues of recourse any more because people are on the side of dispensaries and the laxening of medical marijuana laws in general,” Mr. McPherson said.

Neither Vancouver police nor the B.C. RCMP would comment on the letter or the prospect of Mounties investigating shops outside their jurisdiction. VPD spokesman Constable Brian Montague said the two forces have a great relationship and “out of courtesy we would speak to one another” if investigations cross boundaries.

Neil Boyd, head of Simon Fraser University’s criminology school and an expert on illegal drugs, said, in theory, the Mounties could investigate a Health Canada complaint and raid a Vancouver pot shop, but in practice such a move “would really create an awful lot of unnecessary conflict.”

“I don’t think the Conservative government is on the
side of history. When it comes to cannabis, they’re very much out of step in their own approach in terms of medical marijuana,” Prof. Boyd said. “It is really quite bizarre that they’re using a mail-order system for marijuana as medicine; that’s not the way medicine is usually dispensed. Medicine is usually dispensed through a visit to a physician and through a pharmacy.“

Jerry Martin, who runs a dispensary in Whitewood, Sask., said he was very worried when he received the Health Canada’s letter on Wednesday. He said he does not know if he will be able to continue his three-year-old business, despite having no problems with the local RCMP detachment.

The Health Canada letter also says operators that refuse to close could face fines of up to $5-million or two years in prison, or both, under Bill C-17, which passed into law last November.

The law introduced increased fines and penalties for regulatory offences under the Food and Drugs Act.​
 

jason73

Yuri Bezmenov was right
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Jan 15, 2015
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this is absolute hypocrisy .health canada used to be the ones selling us marijuana
up until 2014 i could buy 300 grams per month from health canada and have it mailed to my door by canada post. now they want to act like they dont want people to be able to buy medical marijuana? gtfo with that bullshit


i have the documents



an old order form from health canada
 

ThatOneDude

Commander in @Chief, Dick Army
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Jan 14, 2015
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holy shit 300 grams a month

How much would that have cost and how was the quality?
 

jason73

Yuri Bezmenov was right
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Jan 15, 2015
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the quality is average but it came prebusted and ready to roll .the cost was 5 bucks per gram.all the compassion clubs and dispensaries popped up because they had a better variety of weed and edibles and you didnt have to buy one large order per month.most of the legit medical marijuana patients are sick and on disability .they dont have a lot of money and it is easier for them to take the bus to the dispensary and buy a couple joints rather than to order 500 bucks worth of weed and ration it out for a month.plus it gives them something to do instead of sitting in the house waiting to die. they go down there and hang out and make friends.to buy the whole 300g from them would have cost 1500 bucks. i could buy a pound on the street for that much
 

jason73

Yuri Bezmenov was right
First 100
Jan 15, 2015
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and on top of that they wanted 12% sales tax in bc
 

jason73

Yuri Bezmenov was right
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Jan 15, 2015
72,789
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this is one of the reasons harper has to go. how many states have medical marijuana laws now and a couple have recreational use and this dickhole wants to act like it is 1989 still
 

BeardOfKnowledge

The Most Consistent Motherfucker You Know
Jul 22, 2015
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the quality is average but it came prebusted and ready to roll .the cost was 5 bucks per gram.all the compassion clubs and dispensaries popped up because they had a better variety of weed and edibles and you didnt have to buy one large order per month.most of the legit medical marijuana patients are sick and on disability .they dont have a lot of money and it is easier for them to take the bus to the dispensary and buy a couple joints rather than to order 500 bucks worth of weed and ration it out for a month.plus it gives them something to do instead of sitting in the house waiting to die. they go down there and hang out and make friends.to buy the whole 300g from them would have cost 1500 bucks. i could buy a pound on the street for that much
From what the article said I was under the impression Health Canada is just trying to make sure all sales go through the government and their new pot plants, and wouldn't actually interfere with patients receiving their medication, but I could very well have misunderstood. Although I have many, many, many problems with the way the federal government and the RCMP go about their business. When it comes to medication I can't think of any other where users have an expectation of selection, being able to choose the quantity they receive, or have it be a fun place to hangout. I mean as much as I like going to Rexall, I don't go there for the ambiance.
 

jason73

Yuri Bezmenov was right
First 100
Jan 15, 2015
72,789
134,170
From what the article said I was under the impression Health Canada is just trying to make sure all sales go through the government and their new pot plants, and wouldn't actually interfere with patients receiving their medication, but I could very well have misunderstood. Although I have many, many, many problems with the way the federal government and the RCMP go about their business. When it comes to medication I can't think of any other where users have an expectation of selection, being able to choose the quantity they receive, or have it be a fun place to hangout. I mean as much as I like going to Rexall, I don't go there for the ambiance.
why take something positive that gives a cancer patient something to live for and turn it in to a medical waiting room cut and dry business transaction? we pay for the herion junkies free needles and give them a place to shoot up with a nurse to watch them,we have a lower east side vending machine full of crack pipes .people get methadone for free but lets crack down on pot.it seems like a waste to me
 

jason73

Yuri Bezmenov was right
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Jan 15, 2015
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Health Canada is just trying to make sure all sales go through the government and their new pot plants
part of the problem is they arent issuing licences for these new commercial growers.there is a huge backlog of applicants and only a few actual legal licenced growers in canada. another problem is would you buy weed sight unseen? all weed is not created equal and your just hoping that your order comes and it is not moldy or crushed into dust in the shipping or stolen out of the mail. anyone who has ever bought weed knows when some one asks if you want to buy some weed you say can i look at it first.they are basically asking you to put your trust in the fact that they will sell you medicinal quality weed that isnt loaded with fertilizer to the point that it wont burn.it makes much more sense to be able to go to a store and look at what you are going to buy and see what your options are. .you might need edibles because you can no longer smoke.they are unavailable under the new regulations but the dispensaries have them.you might need sativa so you can function during the day and maintain a job.you might need a heavy indica .its not a case of choosing the quantity you recieve.there is a limit that is different for each person but max 150g per month.as for a fun place to hang out not everyone can afford 700 dollars for a digital volcano vaporisor that health canada recommends you buy but every compassion club and dispensary has one free to use.
 

BeardOfKnowledge

The Most Consistent Motherfucker You Know
Jul 22, 2015
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why take something positive that gives a cancer patient something to live for and turn it in to a medical waiting room cut and dry business transaction? we pay for the herion junkies free needles and give them a place to shoot up with a nurse to watch them,we have a lower east side vending machine full of crack pipes .people get methadone for free but lets crack down on pot.it seems like a waste to me
Maybe in B.C., but those programs aren't nationwide. If you're suggesting wholesale changes to the medical system I'm on board, but a single demographic receiving special treatment doesn't seem right to me.
 

BeardOfKnowledge

The Most Consistent Motherfucker You Know
Jul 22, 2015
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part of the problem is they arent issuing licences for these new commercial growers.there is a huge backlog of applicants and only a few actual legal licenced growers in canada. another problem is would you buy weed sight unseen? all weed is not created equal and your just hoping that your order comes and it is not moldy or crushed into dust in the shipping or stolen out of the mail. anyone who has ever bought weed knows when some one asks if you want to buy some weed you say can i look at it first.they are basically asking you to put your trust in the fact that they will sell you medicinal quality weed that isnt loaded with fertilizer to the point that it wont burn.it makes much more sense to be able to go to a store and look at what you are going to buy and see what your options are. .you might need edibles because you can no longer smoke.they are unavailable under the new regulations but the dispensaries have them.you might need sativa so you can function during the day and maintain a job.you might need a heavy indica .its not a case of choosing the quantity you recieve.there is a limit that is different for each person but max 150g per month.as for a fun place to hang out not everyone can afford 700 dollars for a digital volcano vaporisor that health canada recommends you buy but every compassion club and dispensary has one free to use.
The applicant issue is definitely a major problem. The rest of it again is something every other medicine user is expected to deal with. I feel like with medicinal marijuana, marijuana's culture for some reason overshadows its medicinal use.
 

jason73

Yuri Bezmenov was right
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The applicant issue is definitely a major problem. The rest of it again is something every other medicine user is expected to deal with. I feel like with medicinal marijuana, marijuana's culture for some reason overshadows its medicinal use.
not really.you dont have to hunt down your own supply of any other medicine or figure out your own dosage.they cant just say smoke 2 joints in the morning and smoke 2 joints at night.all jionts are not created equal.every pill is created exactly equal.every pill is identical in quality whether it comes from rexall or shoppers drug mart.that is absolutley not a situation that any other medicine user is faced with.its not like london drugs has better insulin than pharmasave or you have to order it from ontario and wait 2 weeks to get it.dont confuse marijuana culture for medicinal marijuana medicating there is a difference.no one is advocating for the vapour lounges to stay open.recreational use is a whole different convo
 

jason73

Yuri Bezmenov was right
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Jan 15, 2015
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Maybe in B.C., but those programs aren't nationwide. If you're suggesting wholesale changes to the medical system I'm on board, but a single demographic receiving special treatment doesn't seem right to me.
needle exchange and methadone programs are nation wide.the crackpipe vending machines and govt shooting galleries are a vancouver thing
 

BeardOfKnowledge

The Most Consistent Motherfucker You Know
Jul 22, 2015
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not really.you dont have to hunt down your own supply of any other medicine or figure out your own dosage.they cant just say smoke 2 joints in the morning and smoke 2 joints at night.all jionts are not created equal.every pill is created exactly equal.every pill is identical in quality whether it comes from rexall or shoppers drug mart.that is absolutley not a situation that any other medicine user is faced with.its not like london drugs has better insulin than pharmasave or you have to order it from ontario and wait 2 weeks to get it.dont confuse marijuana culture for medicinal marijuana medicating there is a difference.no one is advocating for the vapour lounges to stay open.recreational use is a whole different convo
Isn't the point of the government run factories to ensure that all the growing is done the same across the board?
 

BeardOfKnowledge

The Most Consistent Motherfucker You Know
Jul 22, 2015
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needle exchange and methadone programs are nation wide.the crackpipe vending machines and govt shooting galleries are a vancouver thing
Heroine use is considered an illness, and needle exchanges are to prevent the spread of things like HIV.

do you know anything about growing weed? not trying to be rude just an honest question.
Not much, I know quite a bit about growing plants though.

p.s. don't worry I'm not offended, and at least now I don't need to respond to multiple replies, lol.
 

jason73

Yuri Bezmenov was right
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Heroine use is considered an illness, and needle exchanges are to prevent the spread of things like HIV.



Not much, I know quite a bit about growing plants though.

p.s. don't worry I'm not offended, and at least now I don't need to respond to multiple replies, lol.
im pretty sure the factory grows were in part to get things under control because the old rules allowed anyone with a grow licence to have a legal grow op in their home.it was unmanagable and a lot of the weed ended up on the street. again your dealing with poor people on disability.of course they sold some of it. the old rules also allowed for multiple licences to be grown under one roof.guys were getting 20 people together and filling barns with legal grow ops.there is no way to calculate how much was produced so alot ended up on the black market.they needed to put an end to this so in the govts mind it made more sense to scrap that plan and go with some mega grows run but legit companies.i cant really argue that things needed to change.one of the problems of the large factories is all weed is not created equal.all grows dont produce the same quality.if i had 2 plants and you had 2 plants using identical set ups one of us will have a better crop than the other.

health canada wanted out of the marijuana business.they were on one hand telling you not to smoke and not to use drugs and on the other hand selling pot to 40k people.now they are sticking their nose back in to try to enforce the rules on behalf of the corporate marijuana growers
the city of vancouver has granted business licences and are taking tax money from all these dispensaries and compassion clubs.they are operating in a semi legal grey area.bc doesnt want to do anything about it or it would have been done already.vancouver doesnt want to do anything they are making money off of them.ottawa only suddenly cares because it is an election year. 2 of the 3 candidates have said as soon as they are elected they will legalize it.
 

BeardOfKnowledge

The Most Consistent Motherfucker You Know
Jul 22, 2015
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im pretty sure the factory grows were in part to get things under control because the old rules allowed anyone with a grow licence to have a legal grow op in their home.it was unmanagable and a lot of the weed ended up on the street. again your dealing with poor people on disability.of course they sold some of it. the old rules also allowed for multiple licences to be grown under one roof.guys were getting 20 people together and filling barns with legal grow ops.there is no way to calculate how much was produced so alot ended up on the black market.they needed to put an end to this so in the govts mind it made more sense to scrap that plan and go with some mega grows run but legit companies.i cant really argue that things needed to change.one of the problems of the large factories is all weed is not created equal.all grows dont produce the same quality.if i had 2 plants and you had 2 plants using identical set ups one of us will have a better crop than the other.

health canada wanted out of the marijuana business.they were on one hand telling you not to smoke and not to use drugs and on the other hand selling pot to 40k people.now they are sticking their nose back in to try to enforce the rules on behalf of the corporate marijuana growers
the city of vancouver has granted business licences and are taking tax money from all these dispensaries and compassion clubs.they are operating in a semi legal grey area.bc doesnt want to do anything about it or it would have been done already.vancouver doesnt want to do anything they are making money off of them.ottawa only suddenly cares because it is an election year. 2 of the 3 candidates have said as soon as they are elected they will legalize it.
I could be wrong, but I have a tough time believing marijuana is the lone plant species where 2 plants grown in identical conditions wouldn't yield almost identical yields.

They also care because jobs were created by the legal grow ops and would be put in jeopardy. No too far from where I am Hershey pulled the plug on their factory which was converted into a grow op in less than a year. If we're being honest, my guess would be that nothing will come of any of it and this is just "Hard on drugs" election rhetoric. Same way they passed a couple b.s. gun laws a month ago so people think they can tell people how they're fighting to keep their rights during the election. Fuck, I hope there's a minority government. Sorry, I'm rambling.
 

jason73

Yuri Bezmenov was right
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Jan 15, 2015
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I could be wrong, but I have a tough time believing marijuana is the lone plant species where 2 plants grown in identical conditions wouldn't yield almost identical yields.
in 2005 i got busted with 1725 plant .im not just talking out my ass. i worked in the marijuana industry from the mid 90s to 2005
 

jason73

Yuri Bezmenov was right
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If we're being honest, my guess would be that nothing will come of any of it and this is just "Hard on drugs" election rhetoric. Same way they passed a couple b.s. gun laws a month ago so people think they can tell people how they're fighting to keep their rights during the election. Fuck, I hope there's a minority government. Sorry, I'm rambling.
i absolutley agree with this .it would be very surprised to see any action taken by the rcmp
 

jason73

Yuri Bezmenov was right
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No too far from where I am Hershey pulled the plug on their factory which was converted into a grow op
Trudeau’s senior adviser is in weed-growing business
September 29, 2013 — BC Blue


In a story about how the Conservative government is going to revamp the corrupted medicinal marijuana grow-op industry, comes this nugget:

Chuck Rifici of Tweed Inc. has applied for a licence to produce medical weed in an abandoned Hershey chocolate factory in hard-scrabble Smiths Falls, Ont.

Rifici, who is also a senior adviser to Trudeau, was cited in a Conservative cabinet minister’s news release Friday that said the Liberals plan to “push pot,” with no reference to Health Canada’s own encouragement of marijuana entrepreneurs.

Rifici says he’s trying to help a struggling community by providing jobs while giving suffering patients a quality product.

“There’s a real need,” he said in an interview. “You see what this medicine does to them.”

Tweed Inc. proposes to produce at least 20 strains to start, and will reserve 10 per cent of production for compassionate, low-cost prescriptions for impoverished patients, he says. (see here)

This doesn’t put both Trudeau and Rifici in a massive conflict of interest and do we now know where Trudeau gets his weed from?

Update: How deep are the ties Rifici has with the Liberals?

Most controversial, however, is president and CEO Chuck Rifici, who has a lengthy financial and entrepreneurial ties but is closely linked to the Liberal Party of Canada – serving as CFO to its national board of directors
 

BeardOfKnowledge

The Most Consistent Motherfucker You Know
Jul 22, 2015
60,547
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Trudeau’s senior adviser is in weed-growing business
September 29, 2013 — BC Blue


In a story about how the Conservative government is going to revamp the corrupted medicinal marijuana grow-op industry, comes this nugget:

Chuck Rifici of Tweed Inc. has applied for a licence to produce medical weed in an abandoned Hershey chocolate factory in hard-scrabble Smiths Falls, Ont.

Rifici, who is also a senior adviser to Trudeau, was cited in a Conservative cabinet minister’s news release Friday that said the Liberals plan to “push pot,” with no reference to Health Canada’s own encouragement of marijuana entrepreneurs.

Rifici says he’s trying to help a struggling community by providing jobs while giving suffering patients a quality product.

“There’s a real need,” he said in an interview. “You see what this medicine does to them.”

Tweed Inc. proposes to produce at least 20 strains to start, and will reserve 10 per cent of production for compassionate, low-cost prescriptions for impoverished patients, he says. (see here)

This doesn’t put both Trudeau and Rifici in a massive conflict of interest and do we now know where Trudeau gets his weed from?

Update: How deep are the ties Rifici has with the Liberals?

Most controversial, however, is president and CEO Chuck Rifici, who has a lengthy financial and entrepreneurial ties but is closely linked to the Liberal Party of Canada – serving as CFO to its national board of directors
Yeah, that one. Isn't that like the opposite of getting into politics to do favors or your buddies? lol
 

jason73

Yuri Bezmenov was right
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Jesus Christ Ricky, that's a fuck ton of plants. No 2 were ever a like?
all under the same lights would be the same but take clones from the same plants and give them to someone else and the yield wont be the same the quality wont be the same.even from the top floor to the bottom floor of the building there was a difference.the top floor always produced less because it was hotter.it always had issues because of humidity .the difference in the bulbs would make a difference say you got 16 sylvania bulbs in a row and everything is 3 ft tall then you got a couple GE bulbs at the end where the plants are 5 feet tall and you got to cut the legs off your table