Absolute discharge for owners of raided Waterloo Dispensary

The only crime committed by a couple who opened a marijuana dispensary without proper approvals was the “offence of compassion,” a judge said Friday.

Justice Colin Westman agreed to give Shady and Nour Louka absolute discharges – meaning that if they do not reoffend in the next year, they will have no criminal records.

The couple had been charged with three counts of possessing marijuana for the purpose of trafficking.

The charges stem from the August 2016 raid of the Waterloo Dispensary on King Street North in Waterloo.

At the time, it was the first marijuana dispensary in Waterloo Region to be shut down by police.

Between the dispensary, the Loukas’ home and their vehicles, police found hundreds of marijuana edibles, as well as more than three pounds of dried marijuana.

The Loukas had pleaded guilty to the offences they were facing, but argued that an absolute discharge was a reasonable option because of the pending legalization of marijuana.

The Crown had initially been seeking jail time as punishment, but later lowered her suggestion to a $10,000 fine.

Westman said that he didn’t consider the fine, or any other punishment, to be appropriate for the Loukas’ actions – particularly because, as he put it, nobody was harmed by their actions.

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“There was … a concern for those suffering,” he said.

A key difference between the Loukas and other dispensary operators, Westman said, is that the Loukas were never given a warning before police moved in.

Other dispensaries were given cease and desist notifications from Waterloo Regional Police before they were raided.

Defence lawyer Sean Safa says the Loukas would have stopped selling marijuana had they been given a similar warning.

Court heard that the Loukas started using marijuana when they were prescribed it after being involved in a car crash. They found that they preferred being able to buy it in person, and wanted to help others do the same.

“In their mind, they weren’t doing anything wrong,” Safa said after the sentencing.

“They were just giving help to those that may need it.”

Separately, Shady Louka is facing charges relating to the careless storage of a gun found in his house.

Those charges remain before the courts.

http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/mobile/absolute-discharge-for-owners-of-raided-waterloo-dispensary-1.3514091#

The whole gun thing was a bit disturbing. Glad they got off though. Never met them.

You can bet they will be visited again and again......... Police don't like to lose.

They're closed....pigs chased every dispensary out of town.
It trudy maggots way of making friends so they will buy his bunk schwagg when he rams thru his cannabis cartel.....NOT.

I assumed they were closed. Doesn't mean police won't harass them at home or on the road.

greg nr said:

I assumed they were closed. Doesn't mean police won't harass them at home or on the road.

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I feel they will be left alone unless they are up to monkey business. This town is pretty conservative though so who knows...maybe.
Fuck the pigs!

greg nr said:

I assumed they were closed. Doesn't mean police won't harass them at home or on the road.

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I think they will leave them alone as well. Too much going on in that area (KW) to bug some people that got let off, the courts are sending a message to the police, and besides there are literally 100's of grows in the area. One massive one along the side of the highway and it is so blatant. The Waterloo Police need to go after hard drugs anyways.

People break the law because they don't want to go through the process of being registered to do it legally because they're lazy, greedy and stupid.

But it's all law enforcements fault.

That's like saying people that car jack people should be left alone. After all, it's the people that went through the trouble of getting a license and buying a car and insuring it that are really to blame for them not having a car, right?

law enforcement also has a choice to make....its time to leave the mmj folk alone...they are not breaking the law.

Not arguing they broke a law. But when there is no such thing as a legal way to do what they were doing, and doing what they were doing was helping people, you really have only two options. Comply or go about your life.

cannadan said:

...they are not breaking the law.

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Yes, they are.

greg nr said:

Not arguing they broke a law. But when there is no such thing as a legal way to do what they were doing, and doing what they were doing was helping people, you really have only two options. Comply or go about your life.

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So car jackers, murderers, rapists, bank robbers should all go free too, right? After all, if there's no legal way to steal somebody's car, then they have to do what they have to do, right?

I'm all for legalization. Hell, I grow illegally myself, but I do so FOR MY OWN USE. Had that been what they were doing, nobody would have cared.

But that is NOT what they were doing. They were dealing drugs for the sole purpose of profit ILLEGALLY.

Why?

Because they wanted to make money.

They didn't give a shit about anybody. They didn't give a shit about the law. They deserved what happened to them.

If they really cared about anybody, they would have simply told people how to go about doing it themselves for themselves. Stop making these money grubbing assholes out to be saints. They're not. They're just money hungry, greedy criminals like all the others.

TacoMac said:

Yes, they are.



So car jackers, murderers, rapists, bank robbers should all go free too, right? After all, if there's no legal way to steal somebody's car, then they have to do what they have to do, right?

I'm all for legalization. Hell, I grow illegally myself, but I do so FOR MY OWN USE. Had that been what they were doing, nobody would have cared.

But that is NOT what they were doing. They were dealing drugs for the sole purpose of profit ILLEGALLY.

Why?

Because they wanted to make money.

They didn't give a shit about anybody. They didn't give a shit about the law. They deserved what happened to them.

If they really cared about anybody, they would have simply told people how to go about doing it themselves for themselves. Stop making these money grubbing assholes out to be saints. They're not. They're just money hungry, greedy criminals like all the others.

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You are equating violent crime to selling a flower that the gov't has already declared will be legal?

Really, all they are guilty of is selling un-taxed cannabis. Kind of like selling un-taxed tobacco in the states. You can get VERY hard time for doing that. And sadly, tobacco is a perfectly legal product (though regulated).

Get off your high horse, it's more of a hobby horse anyway by the sound of it. I suppose you think every speeder should do jail time for breaking the law?

greg nr said:

You are equating violent crime to selling a flower that the gov't has already declared will be legal?

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Which means it presently IS NOT.

Crime is crime, pal. If you're going to let one go, you let them all go. Illegal drugs cause more crime in North America than any other single thing.

They could have done it legally. They didn't. Why? Because they're greedy. They're criminals. That's all there is or ever was to it.

I'm not on a high horse. I'm stating fact. You're defending law breaking, greedy pricks like they were actually providing some sort of needed service.

They weren't. At all.

TacoMac said:

Which means it presently IS NOT.

Crime is crime, pal. If you're going to let one go, you let them all go. Illegal drugs cause more crime in North America than any other single thing.

They could have done it legally. They didn't. Why? Because they're greedy. They're criminals. That's all there is or ever was to it.

I'm not on a high horse. I'm stating fact. You're defending law breaking, greedy pricks like they were actually providing some sort of needed service.

They weren't. At all.

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Sorry, all crimes are not created equal. And some laws are just unjust. This was an economic crime; nothing more.

Btw, side question, are there any legal dispensaries there now? I though they hadn't started to issue licenses yet.

greg nr said:

This was a crime; nothing more.

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Fixed that for you.

greg nr said:

Btw, side question, are there any legal dispensaries there now? I though they hadn't started to issue licenses yet.

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Yes, but a very, very limited few. Marijuana is still illegal here in a big way. You're caught selling, you lose everything and go to jail no matter what.

However, you're caught growing a couple plants for your own use, you get a 250 dollar fine and a years probation. If you stay out of trouble for a year, your record is expunged.

In the grand scheme of things, the police pretty much everywhere don't care about people like me. They care about people like those in this post that undermine the law and will bring down the federal government on them like a ton of bricks.

People like that are why governments are still resisting legalizing it...because even when they DO have a legal avenue, greedy people still break the law anyway and sell to make money.

That's the problem with CRIMINALS: they break the law no matter what, just like these people did...and they do it for one reason only: THEIR OWN PROFIT.

TacoMac said:

Which means it presently IS NOT.

Crime is crime, pal. If you're going to let one go, you let them all go. Illegal drugs cause more crime in North America than any other single thing.

They could have done it legally. They didn't. Why? Because they're greedy. They're criminals. That's all there is or ever was to it.

I'm not on a high horse. I'm stating fact. You're defending law breaking, greedy pricks like they were actually providing some sort of needed service.

They weren't. At all.

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And yet all those "greedy criminals" from project Claudia got off...ask yourself why?!?! Your green is showing bro!

Greedy cannabis criminal exist in Ottawa...they sure do. Come an industry and try to pirate it by setting the police on decent folks. maggot boy is the real criminal and a farce of a Prime Minister. He nothing more than a high paid run way model to me. ZERO respect from me. He's just trying to put his Cannabis Cartel in for his buddies. Fuck him and long live the BM.

of course it was.. a COMPLETE DISCHARGE HELL YA IT WAS!
and the fools here say what?? when it comes to growing selling and being convicted?
ya .. read all about it fools..


. this is the way it goes for all who have the right

LIKE MMAR do

No one needs a ticket only scared fools believe they do..

bend and take it fools.

Well isnt this precedent setting....