ACCUSED ADMIT SELLING CANNABIS

But A 'Defence Of Necessity' Put Forward By Owners Of Store

NELSON - The owners of the Holy Smoke Culture Shop have admitted in
provincial court to selling organic cannabis from their downtown premises.

However, they are putting forward a "defence of necessity," saying
they did more good than harm.

According to testimony, the store began a "designated dealer" program
in 2004-05 to get rid of "unscrupulous" dealers selling drugs in a
nearby garden.

They say they tried everything, including erecting a large sign, to
get rid of those dealers and prevent them from selling to youth, but
nothing worked. But once Holy Smoke started dealing and allowed
people to smoke inside the store, the accused claim the garden
dealers virtually disappeared.

Alan Middlemiss, "spiritual" owner and one of four accused of
trafficking cannabis from the store, testified customers had to be 19
or older, sober, and polite before they could buy drugs from Holy Smoke.

"We asked that they say please," said Middlemiss, who added that he
enjoyed asking people for ID before they passed through three
doorways and two rooms to the veranda to purchase the pot.

Holy Smoke co-owner Paul DeFelice and associates Kelsey Stratas and
Akka Annis are also each facing two counts of trafficking cannabis,
stemming from a 2006 drug bust led by the Nelson police.

The Crown's case concluded this week following evidence that
undercover police officers from the Lower Mainland purchased various
drugs, including cannabis and psilocybins, on June 2 and 3 and July
12 and 13, 2006.

According to Crown prosecutor Rob Brown, the purchases ranged in
price from as low as $10 to as high as $240, the latter for about 30
grams of cannabis.

Judge Don Sperry also heard testimony from co-owner Dustin Cantwell,
who has not been charged, that the designated dealers -- about three
to five of them in all -- had to be trained by Holy Smoke, trusted
and activist-minded, that they had to possess a digital scale to
weigh the drugs, and they were not permitted to resell the substances.