Downtown pot dispensary open again after police raid
Owner says he’ll plead not guilty to three trafficking charges
A downtown marijuana dispensary was raided by police Thursday, but was open again Friday.
Brighter Moments Dispensary set up shop on King Street East near Ferguson Avenue last September offering to sell medical marijuana products exclusively to patients with prescriptions.
The dispensary had operated “without incident” for several months until eight police officers with a warrant searched the facility around 2 p.m., said Cory Kaus, who identified himself as a patient and volunteer operator.
The Spectator was not able to reach Hamilton police about the search Friday afternoon. No press release was issued.
Luke Williams, the dispensary owner, said he faces three trafficking charges – possession for the purpose of trafficking 3 kilograms or less of marijuana, marijuana resin and “marijuana other.” He plans to plead not guilty.
“If they run us out of town, we’ll hire delivery drivers.”
The warrant, of which the shop has a copy, was used to seize what Kaus estimated to be about $50,000 worth of marijuana-related products, including edibles and cannabis-infused teas and pops.
Williams said police left behind the dispensary’s hard drives, camera footage and patient files.
“There was no warning, no letters. They just came in and seized most of our product,” Kaus said.
“We’re a little upset because we’ve always had an open-door policy with police. We’ve had visits before without incident … So we’re trying to figure out what changed.”
Right now, it is not legal to sell medical marijuana outside existing federal regulations, which require patients to buy from designated producers who deliver exclusively by mail.
But the courts struck down those regulations as unconstitutional and gave the government until this August to draft new rules. In the meantime, a new federal Liberal government has also promised to introduce legislation to legalize and regulate pot for recreational purposes next year.
“In the meantime, everyone is operating in a grey area,” Kaus said. “We’re just trying to provide help to patients with genuine medical conditions. We’re not selling for recreational purposes.”
Kaus said the dispensary sells medical marijuana exclusively to about 800 patients with prescriptions — although if someone doesn’t have such a document, volunteers will help them connect with a doctor.
He said on compassionate grounds, they would consider providing “limited, small amounts” of medical marijuana during a typical month-long process to obtain a prescription.
Toronto police caused an uproar in May by raiding dozens of dispensaries that have popped up in that city in the legal vacuum that now surrounds medical marijuana.
Until now, Hamilton hadn’t seen a similar crackdown.
Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders argued the unregulated dispensaries represented a health risk and noted the facilities, some located near schools, had spurred huge numbers of community complaints.
Kaus questioned why police raided the dispensary just a month or two before the government is to clarify rules around the sale and production of medical marijuana.