Health Canada orders pot shops to suspend activities
Health Canada has sent out letters to a handful of marijuana dispensaries advertising the sale of pot and called on them to immediately suspend all activities.
The 13 targeted dispensaries include at least one operation each in Vancouver and Victoria, and another in Saskatchewan, according to B.C. Compassion Club Society spokeswoman Jamie Shaw, who is also the president of the Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries.
“The sale and advertising of marijuana is illegal. ... You are encouraging Canadians to engage in conduct that could also expose them to criminal liability,” said the Health Canada letter received by the Compassion Club Wednesday.
It said if the dispensary does not cease all activities with controlled substances, Health Canada will contact the RCMP within 30 days “for enforcement action as they deem necessary.”
The dispensary has until Sept. 21 to tell Health Canada they will stop advertising and selling pot without a valid licence.
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said she supports some government regulation of medical marijuana.
“So in that sense, it’s good to see the federal government taking some action. But I don’t think it’s the right action,” Helps SAID. “The long arm of the law won’t help people get their medicine.”
She said it would be better to see the federal government sit down with growers, patients and dispensaries to devise some sensible policies and regulations.
Helps said Victoria police have already laid charges at local marijuana dispensaries. Those charges have invariably been tossed from court.
“So if the RCMP comes in and lays charges, then I think we’ll see the same thing,” she said.
The pot dispensaries — which have proliferated recently, with more than 100 in Vancouver alone — operate outside Canada’s licensed medical- marijuana system. That system allows about 20 industrial producers to sell dried marijuana to patients by mail.
Shaw said their lawyer is seeking clarity from Health Canada, calling the letter confusing. She said the compassion club, the oldest medical-pot dispensary in Canada, operating for nearly 20 years, does not advertise.
Shaw noted they have about 10,000 members, and have had numerous discussions with Health Canada in the past.
“We’re happy to work on any specific issues or concerns they [Health Canada] may have, but we can’t abandon patients to a regulatory scheme that doesn’t serve them,” she said Thursday.
Health Canada did not name the 13 dispensaries.
“Health Canada will attempt to work co-operatively with all parties involved to encourage compliance. If continued noncompliance is identified, the department may refer the case to law-enforcement agencies for appropriate action,” said an email from Health Canada spokesman Patrick Gaebel.