CONTROVERSIAL CAFE'S POT SUPPLIER CHARGED WITH POSSESSION FOR PURPOSE OF
TRAFFICKING

VANCOUVER -- The founder of the society supplying pot at the Da Kine Smoke
and Beverage Shop is back in jail on a charge of possessing marijuana for
the purpose of trafficking.

Donald Briere, who was on parole for growing marijuana, money laundering
and a weapons offence, was taken into custody Sunday, four days after
Vancouver police raided the Da Kine, a Commercial Drive store that
continues to defiantly sell marijuana.

Court documents indicate was charged with possession of up to three
kilograms of marijuana for the purposes of trafficking.

On Tuesday, Briere was taken to Burnaby General Hospital complaining of
chest pains, but was discharged and taken back to Vancouver Remand Centre
in the afternoon, according to his lawyer, John Conroy.

Briere and his daughter, Colleen Denise Briere Smart, are directors of the
Canadian Sanctuary Society, a registered non-profit society whose aims are
to advocate for the legalization of marijuana, and to supply pot for
medical purposes.

The society is continuing to operate the Da Kine, despite the arrest of
owner Carol Gwilt and seven others. On Tuesday, there appeared to be no
slow-down in the number of customers lining up to buy pot. People lined up
out the door and were sold multiple packs of pot, which were selling for
$2.50 for a joint and $10 a gram.

The defiance of the shop's volunteers infuriated Eileen Mosca, president of
the Grandview-Woodlands Community Policing Centre, who said her group
repeatedly warned City Hall about the society's plans to open a pot shop
one block away from Britannia secondary school.

Mosca said the centre learned of Gwilt's plans after she was rebuffed in an
attempt to open up a similar shop in the Collingwood area earlier in the
year. Collingwood Community Policing Centre called Mosca and city hall to
warn that Gwilt had announced she would instead move to the Commercial
Drive area.

When an officer from the Grandview Woodlands policing centre and a licence
inspector visited Da Kine Jan. 19, they discovered Gwilt doing renovations
without a permit.

When they asked her what her plans were, she told them they planned to
"open a cafe/compassion club," according to a copy of the licence and
inspection report filed with the city.

"When asked what they meant by a compassion club, Carol Gwilt stated 'for
the dispensing of medicinal marijuana,"' the report continued.

The Da Kine's operators were told by the inspector that "they should come
into the licence office to discuss the operation of a compassion club."

Mosca said that admission was enough to raise concerns with the policing
centre, which then advised city hall, local schools and the Britannia
Community Centre. Despite that, the city issued a licence on May 4, two
weeks after receiving Gwilt's application.

"We did our due diligence, and we went to the city's neighbourhood
integrated services team. We notified schools and community centres that
the business was being proposed, and we didn't want it to open. But we were
totally ignored by the city," she said.