MAIL-ORDER POT BUSINESS SHUTS DOWN

Bud Buddy, the Vancouver-based mail-order marijuana service being
probed by Canada Post and city police, says it's going out of business.

The embattled web dealer said yesterday it was having to shut down
because of a "media firestorm" -- and the prospect of being busted by
police.

"I cannot stay in business when there are TV crews outside the place
where I pick up my mail," Bud Buddy's operator told The Province in an
anonymous e-mail.

"Bud Buddy is going to shut down before I have to deal with a police
bust like Da Kine."

The Da Kine pot cafe on Commercial Drive closed last week following
the arrest of owner Carol Gwilt and seven employees on
marijuana-trafficking charges.

An exclusive Sunday Province story detailed how Bud Buddy had been
selling pot across Canada for more than a year. It told customers to
order the "high-quality" herb via regular mail or Canada Post
Xpresspost, sending cash to a Coal Harbour postal box.

The postal pot operator boasted of giving a "fast, discreet" service
to those who declared they suffered from one of a host of medical
ailments, ranging from "muscle spasms" to "mood swings."

Canada Post said yesterday its legal officials were now aware of Bud
Buddy. "They're just going to look at this, and they'll talk to our
security people as well, and go from there," said Ottawa-based
spokesman John Caines. "No decisions have been made yet."

Vancouver police said yesterday they have launched their own
probe.

"The Vancouver police drug squad is investigating in concert with
Canada postal inspectors of Canada Post," spokesman Sgt. Ron
Fairweather told The P rovince.

Former B.C. Marijuana Party candidate Mike Hansen, meanwhile, said he
heads a co-op that sells homegrown cannabis to sick people -- and that
its prices were much lower than Bud Buddy's.

Hansen, of Delta, said he wasn't worried about being busted. "I'm
standing right here at Hastings and Main . . . and there's crack deals
and there's heroin deals and there's meth deals going on all around me
. . . and no one's down here dealing with this problem," he said.

"So I challenge any police officer to come to me and say I cannot help
the sick of this country."