Weedpipe
Active Member
MONTREAL Police rounded nearly three dozen suspects Thursday at locations in Montreal and Quebec City in a sweeping crackdown that instantly shut down four marijuana-distribution shops known as compassion centres.
The retail locations had been selling pot, openly and in significant quantities, to walk-in clients who said they needed the drug for medical reasons.
Some 130 pounds of marijuana were seized during an operation which involved dozens of officers, police said.
A total of nine search warrants were executed, said Commander Antonio Iannantuoni.
Four raids were carried out on the retail distribution centres. The remaining five raids were on the residences of those running the businesses.
There were days when we observed more than 200 people going in and out of the Culture 420 Compassion Centre in Lachine, west of downtown, Iannantuoni said.
The erstwhile pot shop is within eyesight of a police station.
Most clients of the Lachine shop were under 35, Iannantuoni said, citing reports filed by his investigators.
About 11 pounds of pot was seized in the Lachine shop, he added and 11 people arrested.
A parallel crackdown simultaneously shut a medical-pot shop in Quebec City. In all 35 people were arrested police said.
Police have decreed zero tolerance for the sale of pot, instead referring people with a legitimate medical need for the drug to Health Canada, he said.
Use and cultivation of marijuana for certain medical conditions has been legal under Canadian law since 2001.
But it is illegal to sell it, Iannantuoni said.
The suspects will face charges of trafficking in the drug, along with conspiracy, he added.
The most notable name among those arrested is that of Marc-Boris St. Maurice, founder of the federal Marijuana party.
News Forum: rollitup.org
Source: Montreal Gazette
Author: JAN RAVENSBERGEN
Contact: Montreal Gazette
Copyright: 2010 Montreal Gazette
Website: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Quebec+cops+raid+medical+shops+arrest/3109205/story.html
The retail locations had been selling pot, openly and in significant quantities, to walk-in clients who said they needed the drug for medical reasons.
Some 130 pounds of marijuana were seized during an operation which involved dozens of officers, police said.
A total of nine search warrants were executed, said Commander Antonio Iannantuoni.
Four raids were carried out on the retail distribution centres. The remaining five raids were on the residences of those running the businesses.
There were days when we observed more than 200 people going in and out of the Culture 420 Compassion Centre in Lachine, west of downtown, Iannantuoni said.
The erstwhile pot shop is within eyesight of a police station.
Most clients of the Lachine shop were under 35, Iannantuoni said, citing reports filed by his investigators.
About 11 pounds of pot was seized in the Lachine shop, he added and 11 people arrested.
A parallel crackdown simultaneously shut a medical-pot shop in Quebec City. In all 35 people were arrested police said.
Police have decreed zero tolerance for the sale of pot, instead referring people with a legitimate medical need for the drug to Health Canada, he said.
Use and cultivation of marijuana for certain medical conditions has been legal under Canadian law since 2001.
But it is illegal to sell it, Iannantuoni said.
The suspects will face charges of trafficking in the drug, along with conspiracy, he added.
The most notable name among those arrested is that of Marc-Boris St. Maurice, founder of the federal Marijuana party.
News Forum: rollitup.org
Source: Montreal Gazette
Author: JAN RAVENSBERGEN
Contact: Montreal Gazette
Copyright: 2010 Montreal Gazette
Website: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Quebec+cops+raid+medical+shops+arrest/3109205/story.html