'THERE WERE SMOKY MOMENTS, THERE WERE NON SMOKY MOMENTS'

They said it : The Holy Smoke trial that started this week was full of
sound bites - here's a sampling

It was a lively day at the Nelson courthouse on Monday as the Holy
Smoke Culture Shop was once again in the spotlight. Two owners and two
associates have been charged with trafficking and they are using the
charges to fight the marijuana laws in Canada. Here is some of the
banter inside the court and out from the first day of the trial. The
trial is expected to resume on Thursday.

On why they sold cannabis:

"The way I see it is we just eliminated the garden drug dealers'
customers by allowing somebody we trusted to come inside our shop and
do things the way we thought they should be done rather than people
that were coming." -Paul DeFelice, Holy Smoke Culture Shop co-owner
and one of accused (outside courtroom)

"We're making a necessity defense and what we're saying is that
self-regulated cannabis sales are safer than prohibition. That's the
baseline." -Dustin Cantwell, Holy Smoke Culture Shop co-owner (outside
courtroom)

"All you'd have to do is drive by there and see 30 guys there and a
tent." Alan Middlemiss, one of four accused of trafficking, on his
reaction to a police officer saying he did not know about the drug
dealing in the garden next to Holy Smoke. (In provincial court)

"We realized that's where we hit them is in their customer base. So
we're okay with adults using pot responsibly. We have a concern with
young minors using it irresponsibly and coming into contact with
people who could hurt them or take their money or offer them something
much worse than pot so in our minds, we wanted to eliminate that."
Paul DeFelice (outside courtroom)

"I'm trying to protect people who are community members of Nelson and
visitors...from unscrupulous dealers." Alan Middlemiss in provincial
court.

"We did what we thought society should do and now we're going to pay
the price I guess." Paul DeFelice (outside the courtroom)

"If you smoke pot today, you're an activist." (Alan Middlemiss in
provincial court)

On the designated dealer program and dealing:

"Everybody wants to sell pot, everybody wants to make money but fewer
people want to do it publicly and fewer people want to put their neck
on the line like we have so we were left with a small pool." "Paul
DeFelice, on who they chose to deal (outside the courtroom)

"There were dead moments, there were busy moments. There were smoky
moments, there were non-smoky moments." Alan Middlemiss on describing
business at Holy Smoke Culture Shop in provincial court

"It was all [fly by the] seat of the pants [stuff]. We never kept much
on the property, usually under a pound, I'd say and so we'd keep that
to a minimum because we (never) knew if we were going to get stolen or
busted." Paul DeFelice on how they got the product (outside courtroom)

"We took great pleasure in giving people twice their weight [of
marijuana], because we just wanted to make the point: don't go to the
streets." Paul DeFelice (outside courtroom)

"We asked that they say please." Alan Middlemiss on describing rules
for customers buying pot in provincial court

And when asked by judge Don Sperry if they would be denied if they did
not say: "please," Middlemiss responded: "There would be a delay."

On profits:

"Does it just go up in smoke?" Judge Don Sperry after Dustin Cantwell
said the profits reported were higher than what he actually got into
his hand (in provincial court)

On the quality of the marijuana:

"I'm not what you would call your typical hippie. I'm not a
vegetarian, I don't necessarily care that much about organic, so they
educated me when I got here. I was from the city, 'chemmy' weed was
the way to go and give you a little bit more of a buzz. But as soon
as you start smoking organic cannabis, you can't go back. It's not
enjoyable anymore." Philip McMillan, Nelson Cannabis Compassion Club
(outside courtroom)

"We're doing our best we can under the circumstances which is know the
people personally, visit who we can, smoke it ourselves." "Paul
DeFelice (outside courtroom)

"Everyone told us it was the best cannabis they ever had." "Akka
Annis, one of four accused of trafficking, in provincial court.

"There's two people who grow pot in this valley. There's the ones who
grow it because of the love of the plant and those who grow it for
profit. We try to focus in on those who love the plant because
they're the ones who are going to grow it organically, flush it
properly and make it a better product." Philip McMillan, Nelson
Cannabis Compassion Club (outside courtroom)