Holy Smoke May Move, but Fight Will Continue

Paul DeFelice, one of the co-owners recently convicted on two counts
of marijuana trafficking in the Holy Smoke trial said he isn't pleased
with the sentence requested by the Crown prosecution.

"It's disappointing for sure," DeFelice said. "They're going to
treat us like any common street dealer."

When he heard the Crown's submission for sentencing, he said he was
surprised.

"He got it all backwards," DeFelice said, noting the prosecution
didn't acknowledge their intent to protect the welfare of kids. "We
went way out of our way to offer them harm reduction," he pointed out.
"We were there to take responsibility with the police and with the
customers."

Emphasizing the simple lives they lead, DeFelice also said that
neither he nor co-accused Allan Middlemiss made any significant amount
of money from the sales of marijuana through the store, and the
original intent of the business was not to sell pot.

He said this was a process that developed over many years of
advocating marijuana use.

"We've been advocates for years," DeFelice said. "This wasn't a slow
process. It wasn't like we were selling for years."

He confirmed that Holy Smoke will be closing down in its current
location.

"We will always continue on as a movement," DeFelice said. "But the
Holy Smoke retail space may not be in that location."

"I think it's a disappointing day for pot smokers in Nelson,"
Middlemiss said after the trial.

"Asking people to stop smoking pot is like asking people to stop
having premarital sex."

Both Middlemiss and DeFelice said they have every intention of
appealing the court's decision and taking the case to the highest
level of court they possibly can.

"The mission we had was to repeal cannabis prohibition," Middlemiss
said. "If we have to do advocacy from jail, we'll do that because
we're in it to the point where there's no turning back."