Police bust Sydney marijuana dispensary
Marijuana will be eventually legalized in Canada but that doesn’t mean you can just set up shop and start selling it, police said after executing a warrant at a Sydney business Friday afternoon that led to one person being charged.
The warrant was executed at Nova Budds, a newly opened business which was operating as a medical marijuana dispensary. Three men were arrested by the police without incident.
A search of the business located marijuana, shatter and other products containing THC (tetrahydrocannabinol — a chemical in marijuana). These products included food products and different cannabis oils.
According to Staff Sgt. Paul E. Muise in a police press release, the business was operating illegally since storefronts or dispensaries are not authorized to sell cannabis for medical or any other purposes. The release says these operations are illegally supplied and provide products that are unregulated and may be unsafe.
Muise said later in an interview that even when marijuana is eventually legalized in Canada, it won’t mean that anyone can open a store and start selling.
“Storefronts are illegal,” said Muise. “Even when the federal government makes marijuana legal in the future, if you wanted to apply for medical marijuana, you apply to Health Canada and you will either be able to or not. And if you are granted the right to do that you are only allowed to grow so much. If you’re a person who wants to be licensed to provide it … it is going to be regulated. It’s the same process — you have to apply to Health Canada and it’s going to be strictly regulated and they’re going to decide who gets to grow it and provide it to whoever is going to dispense it.”
While there is a medical marijuana for trauma facility in the area, that office is a referral centre.
“If you were a person who had a medical condition and marijuana was going to be a solution you would go to them and they would refer you to a doctor or whoever has the licence to prescribe it to you. There’s the difference.”
When marijuana becomes legalized in Canada a person will have to apply to Health Canada to grow marijuana for their own use for medical purpose or if a person wants to be a licensed provider it will be in a secure sanitary place and it will be still be illegal for an individual to advertise cannabis or set up a storefront or dispensary under the Access to Cannabis For Medical Purposes Regulations, added Muise.
“If we catch people that possess it, the Controlled Drugs and Substance Act and the Narcotic Control Act is still going to be in place,” said Muise. “You’re not going to be able to sell it if you’re growing it for your own use. It’s going to be strictly regulated even when they put it into law that they have legalized it.”
As a result of Friday’s investigation two of the males arrested were released with no charges. A 34-year-old Port Hawkesbury man is charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking cannabis marijuana and possession for the purpose of trafficking in cannabis resin. The male will appear in court at a later date.