Police give pot shop owners formal warning to shut down
ARTHUR WHITE-CRUMMEY
There are still lineups at Cannagreen marijuana dispensary.
Most people come for the wide selection of still-illegal cannabis products on offer. On Tuesday, though, a visitor in uniform walked through the door of the Albert Street pot shop.
A Regina police officer dropped off a letter, advising that the operators of the shop are breaking the law. It cited numerous sections of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
“Peace officers of the Regina Police Service have reason to believe that one or more of the above offences has been committed. Take notice that Regina Police Service may take such enforcement action as it deems appropriate,” the letter read.
“Kindly govern yourselves accordingly.”
Cheyenne Boucher-Burnet was working behind the counter that day. He said there were two officers — one in uniform, one in plainclothes.
“We’re not going after employees,” he recalled one of them saying.
Cannagreen is one of the few marijuana shops still defying repeated police warnings. Just last month, Regina police Chief Evan Bray announced that owners and operators of dispensaries could face criminal consequences if they don’t close up shop.
Most shut down before police began their visits. The Grass Station in Tuxedo Park closed permanently on Feb. 1, according to a recording on their voice-mail service. Regina Green Cross Medicine once displayed a sign announcing they would close on Feb. 15. They then crossed that out and wrote “Jan. 30.”
Elizabeth Popowich, spokesperson for the Regina Police Service, said that’s exactly what police were hoping to achieve.
“They recognize their activities are not legal and subject to enforcement,” she wrote in an email response. She added that the letters are part of the education campaign Bray promised in his January speech.
“As of this morning, we had delivered letters to all but a few of the dispensaries,” she wrote. “I expect, by now, we’ve visited them all.”
She said the police committed to “having a conversation” with dispensaries. The letters could leave “no doubt” about the key details of Bray’s message, she said.
Pat Warnecke, who runs the Best Buds Society dispensary in Regina’s warehouse district, also received a visit from two police officers on Tuesday. He said it didn’t feel like a conversation at all.
“It was a very unprofessional letter,” Warnecke said. “They come in and not even discuss anything ... just hand us a piece of paper.”
He said he did not receive a deadline for closing his operations.
Popowich explained that giving a deadline would be like “giving permission for them to operate up until the date given.” That’s something the police are not prepared to do.
Warnecke vows to stay open until the bitter end.
Boucher-Burnet also plans to keep working at Cannagreen until his manager decides to close.
“I’m dedicated to my job,” he said.