Sask. man charged in connection with massive cannabis bust
CANMORE, ALTA. A massive drug bust involving a 39-year-old Saskatchewan man is evidence that the black market for marijuana is still thriving, RCMP say.
On Jan. 26, Mounties stopped a speeding pickup truck on the Trans-Canada Highway near Banff.
A subsequent search of the vehicle found 147 kilograms of cannabis along with two kilograms of a cannabis resin called shatter, one kilogram of THC edibles, 4.5 kilograms of psilocybin mushrooms and $11,000 in Canadian currency, according to police.
RCMP Supt. Gary Graham said despite last October’s legalization of recreational cannabis use, “there will always be a black market.”
“To the extent of how much of a black market there is, I suppose this is only new legislation, so it will take time to develop some sort of a baseline or means to make that kind of assessment,” he said.
“It still shows all of us that large quantities of illegal cannabis are still being transported on our roadways. Our officers need to be in tune to the fact that a certain portion (of cannabis) is legal and they have to be intuitive to that in their investigations.”
In Canada, a person is legally allowed to carry 30 grams of cannabis.
In the bust near Banff, the drugs were found stuffed in four large hockey bags, a method Cpl. Kyle Maetche said is “consistent with wholesale movement of cannabis.”
Despite the size of the seizure, Maetche said the Jan. 26 stop wasn’t out of the ordinary.
“It is a large seizure for sure, but we’ve had in my time a number of similar-size seizures. Oftentimes in contraband seizures that we experience, you look at a variety of products (transported together).”
Maetche said RCMP believe the products were from B.C. but are still investigating their intended final destination and any potential links to organized crime.
“The Trans-Canada connects all of our provinces so, with great volumes of traffic, we often see great volumes of criminality,” he said.
“We’ve seen large quantities of cannabis leading up to and post legalization. I don’t anticipate to see a huge change in that in the near future.”
Graham said traffic stops on Alberta highways “can, and do, lead to significant seizures.”
“The cannabis that was seized in this stop ... could make somewhere just over 440,000 average-sized joints. The mushrooms roughly equate to 9,000 dosages,” Graham said.
“We have no idea what’s in this product, whereas if you go to an approved distribution store, you have some assurance there’s quality control and so forth.”
Morley Miller, 39, is facing charges of possession of cannabis, cannabis resin and psilocybin for the purpose of distribution, and possession of proceeds obtained by crime.
Calgary police said last week that they are investigating a number of illicit brick-and-mortar cannabis outlets. “It may seem ironic but we’re doing it for those legal people now ... (black marketers are) a slap in the face to the people who’ve spent a lot of money and time to get their stores going,” Staff Sgt. Kyle Grant of the Calgary police drug unit told Postmedia.
One black-market dealer who gave his name to Postmedia only as Greg said his home-delivery medicinal and recreational cannabis business has been booming, even though police know of him and have contacted him.
Grant said police will eventually be dealing with people like Greg, but he acknowledged his unit has harder drugs, such as crystal meth and fentanyl, as enforcement priorities. Limited resources means combating cannabis can take a back seat.
“We only have so many drug investigators to go around; we’re always playing catch-up,” said Grant.