POT CAFE HAS RESTOCKED AND SOLD OUT AGAIN IN DAYS SINCE POLICE RAID

Police Recommending Drug-Trafficking Charges Against Da Kine Staff

The business of selling marijuana buds at the Da Kine cafe on
Commercial Drive remains brisk three days after the store was raided
and its hefty stash confiscated by Vancouver police.

Da Kine was able to restock after the Thursday raid, but ran out of
marijuana to sell late Friday. Staff promised sales would resume
today. A defiant management has vowed the controversial shop will not
bow to police pressure and cease pot sales, despite legal advice to do
so.

Management team member Lorne McLeod said the cafe is also
contemplating legal action against police for damages to the premises
during the raid. Dozens of officers, some wearing balaclavas to
conceal their identities, stormed the cafe Thursday night.

"We're not going away. We plan to stay open," McLeod said Friday
outside Da Kine. "We are not doing anything wrong here."

Police beg to differ.

"This was not a small, insignificant compassion club. This was a drug
house and a very significant operation," acting Deputy Chief Const.
Bob Rolls said, adding that the store averaged $30,000 a day in sales
and had plans to establish different locations.

Police seized $63,000 in cash from the store ($27,000 of it in the
till), $1,700 US, 9.5 kilograms of marijuana and 450 grams of hashish
in the raid. Officers also carted away boxes containing 300 edible
marijuana products.

Forty-one people were in the store at the time of the raid, said drug
squad Insp. Dave Nelmes, eight of them staff members. A majority of
the customers were young and none was able to present police with
federal exemptions that would allow them to possess and consume
marijuana legally, Nelmes said.

Seven staff members are charged with trafficking and possession for
the purpose of trafficking. Owner Carol Gwilt is also charged with
possessing proceeds of a crime.

Nelmes said Da Kine, Hawaiian slang for "the best," first came to the
attention of police after someone called in a tip to CrimeStoppers
Aug. 26.

McLeod denied that the store took in $30,000 a day.

"I wish," he said. "We're doing vast business, but not on a profit
basis."

Pot sold at Da Kine is purchased from the Canadian Sanctuary Society,
McLeod said. Buyers at Da Kine must be over 18 and must either present
a federal exemption (allowing them to possess and consume marijauna)
or register with the society and fill out an exemption application.
The applicant, and some 10,000 have applied through Da Kine, must
swear the marijuana is to alleviate some symptom, condition or disease.

Since 1999, Health Canada has been granting exemptions to the
Controlled Drug and Substance Act to allow sick and dying people to
possess and cultivate marijuana for medicinal use. Applicants need
approval from Health Canada before their marijuana possession is legal.

Monica Towery's stated reason Friday as she plunked down $40 for four
grams of marijuana was "stress."

"I have kids. I have lots of stress," said the 34-year-old Dallas,
Tex., resident.

Police came under heavy criticism for the scope of the Thursday raid
that saw a full block shut down for several hours, a movie production
halted and hundreds of people put behind barricades hurling abuse and
profanities at officers.

Vancouver police spokeswoman Const. Sarah Bloor would not say how many
officers were involved in Thursday's raid, only that "several dozen"
took part. Rolls and Nelmes insisted the raid had nothing to do with
statements made last week by B.C. Solicitor-General Rich Coleman, who
said he believed something should be done about Da Kine.

"We made a decision to do this [the week before]," Nelmes
said.

Coleman declined to comment on the deployment of police resources, but
said the province expects federal laws and provincial laws to be enforced.

However, NDP MP Libby Davies said Prime Minister Paul Martin needs to
act quickly to re-introduce marijuana reforms when Parliament convenes
next month.

Pointing to the raid, Davies, who represents Vancouver East, said in a
statement: "These sorts of situations are going to continue if Paul
Martin and the federal government refuse to face the issue, and as [a]
result lives are ruined because of criminal convictions."

Grandview-Woodland Community Policing office president Eileen Mosca
said she's looking to city hall for some kind of leadership on the
issue of marijuana sales from businesses and she wants Mayor Larry
Campbell and councillors to "have the jam" to take a stand.

"This city deserves better governance than turning a blind eye," Mosca
said. "Come to grips with this as a council. Make a statement as to
whether retail premises are allowed to sell marijuana or not."