POT PROTEST AT STATION
Marchers irked about raids on dispensaries
Marie makes her shortbread cookies with butter, sugar, flour and a pinch of “green.”
Not much. She figures there’s about 0.03 grams of marijuana per cookie. On Friday, she offered her baking to protesters in front of the Regina Police Service headquarters.
“These are pure green,” said Marie, who also goes by Auntie M, but declined to provide her last name. “I’m not selling them. They’re for donations. All the donations are going to the cause: The court costs for the guys that have been put in jail unfairly and are helping us people stay off the streets.”
About 30 people came out Friday afternoon to support that cause, as police staff peered from upstairs windows. The demonstrators said the recent police crackdown on cannabis dispensaries is cutting them off from what they claim is a safe supply of medicine. Many said they were patients of Best Buds Society, whose owner, Pat Warnecke, is now facing trafficking charges for repeatedly reopening his store.
That’s where Marie gets her green.
“I feel better making them with Best Buds marijuana because at least I know they ’re not street fentanyl hazed,” she said.
“There’s nothing noxious in them.”
Warnecke was not at the rally. He said his release conditions prevent him from having any contact with other Best Buds employees. A customer, Marie Van Everdink, was one of those who took over organizing the rally in his stead.
“Today we’re just here to show how many people are medical patients,” she said.
“We’re in absolute need of our medication, and with the raids going down and the distribution centres being shut down, it’s making it really, really hard for patients to get what they need.”
Van Everdink said she went into “panic mode” when she heard Best Buds was raided. She uses their marijuana to treat pain from a surgery that went “horribly wrong.” The alternative, she said, was opioid painkillers.
Regina Police Chief Evan Bray has assured patients they still can still access medical marijuana through a regulated mail-order system. But Van Everdink said that’s not an option for many who buy their drugs at Best Buds. They might not have credit cards, or a fixed address.
Other protesters said the licensed system only provides dry marijuana, not edibles or oils that avoid the need to smoke. Karla Weber carried a sign that said “edibles are not the enemy.”
“I’ve never smoked,” said Weber, who carried around a case full of pharmaceuticals she once took for Ménière’s disease. “Medical cannabis was brought to me as a lastditch effort ... It’s medicine and I don’t think I should be forced to smoke my medicine.”
She also said she appreciates the consultation provided by Best Buds.
Several current or former Best Buds employees attended the march. So did Regina-Lewvan MP Erin Weir. He said he came out to oppose the “untenable situation” created by the federal government.
“It doesn’t make any sense to be putting people in jail or giving them criminal records for doing something that is soon going to be legal,” he said. “Possession is the main thing that needs to be decriminalized.”
When asked whether Warnecke and others charged with trafficking should be allowed to continue undisturbed, he demurred.
“I think the police are trying to do their job by enforcing the law as it stands right now,” said Weir. “The problem is that the federal government has created this inconsistency by announcing the legalization while keeping criminal sanctions for marijuana.”
Police continued to do their job on Friday. Three officers came down the steps to politely ask the protesters to stay on the sidewalk.
One said he would be inside if they needed him.
“Thank you very much you guys,” said Van Everdink. “We appreciate it very much.”