Halifax - Farm Assists A Medical Marijuana Lounge, Raided By Police

WHATFG

Well-Known Member
From 420 magazine....

Halifax Regional Police arrested two men as officers raided the city's first medical marijuana lounge Friday afternoon. The Gottingen Street lounge, called Farm Assists, welcomed licensed medical marijuana users to vaporize their marijuana using smokeless devices that don't burn the plant but instead toast it to release the active THC. Police raided and searched the lounge Friday afternoon. Officers arrested two men, aged 19 and 40, and seized marijuana, cash and "drug paraphernalia."

Gerry Randall came by the store Friday afternoon, but found it shut and flooded with police. He uses the medicine to treat his epilepsy. “There’s a lot of people here who this is their lifeline to a normal life," he said. “I’ve tried all kinds of pills to [stop] the seizures, and I still had the seizures. The only thing that made me not have a seizure completely is … cannabis.” He says cops should focus on hard drugs, not “wasting their time here [where they’re] giving people medicine.” Randall says the move would leave some people housebound until they can find a new supply for the medicine. “This is ridiculous," he said.

Store owner Chris Enns said in a July interview he also planned to sell medical marijuana, which is where the legality of the business gets hazy. Enns has a medical marijuana licence. Health Canada, the regulator of medical marijuana, says storefronts and dispensaries that distribute cannabis are illegal. Enns disagreed and said it exists within a grey area of the law.

Drug charges are currently pending against Enns and his fiancee Sherri Reeve after a police raid at the medicinal marijuana club they ran in Porter's Lake last year. He said in July it was possible that their new business could be raided as well. Health Canada says it's up to local authorities to deal with stores that distribute marijuana. Halifax Regional Police said in July that anyone who sells marijuana at this type of establishment is actively drug trafficking. The Farm Assists raid was one of three simultaneous warrant searches on Friday.

Officers seized marijuana and cash at a home on East Chezzetcook Road. They arrested a 39-year-old man and a 47-year-old woman. Halifax police Const. Pierre Bourdages says the Chezzetcook arrests are related to the Gottigen Street raid. Police also seized several hundred marijuana pants at a property on Colford Drive, but no one was arrested. All of the arrested are now being questioned.

 

VIANARCHRIS

Well-Known Member
Amazing that Halifax and Vancouver are both in the same country and ruled by the same federal drug laws, but enforcement is the polar opposite. Harper has succeeded in creating the most confusing marijuana laws on the planet to a point where neither the users nor police understand what is acceptable. The result is two people involved in the same activity, in opposite sides of the same country could result in a criminal conviction for one and absolutely no police interaction for the other. I'm no lawyer, but I would think there would be a legit constitutional argument using that defense.
 

GrowRock

Well-Known Member
Ya I'm no lawyer either but that's a great point Chris. We all live in the same country governed by the same laws so why on 1 coast should the long arm of the law look the other way and on the opposite coast the law raides the exact same grey area business. I thought laws were just and equal on every citizen of Canada. Not a pick and choose system!!! Oh wait the corrupt greedy government I forgot. Lol
 

VIANARCHRIS

Well-Known Member
Ya I'm no lawyer either but that's a great point Chris. We all live in the same country governed by the same laws so why on 1 coast should the long arm of the law look the other way and on the opposite coast the law raides the exact same grey area business. I thought laws were just and equal on every citizen of Canada. Not a pick and choose system!!! Oh wait the corrupt greedy government I forgot. Lol
No such thing as equality in the laws in Canada. Natives are treated different than others, Quebec is afforded different rights, police and politicians are above the law and now the right coast is treated different than the left coast.
 

Jackal69

Well-Known Member
No such thing as equality in the laws in Canada. Natives are treated different than others, Quebec is afforded different rights, police and politicians are above the law and now the right coast is treated different than the left coast.
when did you finally notice?
 

bcbreeder

Well-Known Member
If you look at case law between the east and west it is very different,
In bc compassion club\medical cases you see discharges where back east you see jail time for the same offences
 

j0yr1d3

Well-Known Member
The problem is that these are federal laws being (un)enforced by city/municipal law enforcement. Do these cities have bylaws that vary differently in regards to business and "marihuana"? Different police forces seem to have different priorities and sadly for some they have nothing better to do than lock up people for cannabis possession (an unjust law and victimless crime remind you). The only way this mess will ever be fixed is with a fair system of legalization. The madness does need to stop like Hippy said.
 

Jackal69

Well-Known Member
I don't believe it would have charges against it if they didn't supply, just the lounge you could sell vapes and munchies LOL.
It was selling there too that got them standing out.
 
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