WHERE'S THE COMPASSION?

Last Thursday, June 3, 35 suspects, as they were termed, were
apprehended in a co-ordinated raid involving some 80 Montreal police
on a total of four Montreal Island medicinal marijuana distribution
centres. Among the aforementioned "suspects" was former Hour senior
political correspondent Charlie McKenzie, who was charged with
trafficking. McKenzie left his post here several years ago to take on
more stable employment with the Montreal Compassion Club, an
organization quite close to his very large heart.

Of the four marijuana clubs busted, one in particular, the Culture 420
Compassion Club in Lachine, was singled out for special attention.
Police stated they saw upwards of 200 people, almost all under the age
of 35, entering the premises every day.

"They had Cegep kids lined up outside waiting to get in," says
McKenzie. He further alleges that they made a mockery of the medicinal
marijuana mission. "The 420 Club bozos started offering 'Bring a
friend, get a gram free.' They actually posted this on their website."

Is the Montreal Compassion Club in any way affiliated with the 420
Club? "No!" says McKenzie adamantly. "Not whatsoever. We refused these
guys. They were too sketchy for us, we just couldn't abide by them."

"[Their activities] pissed us off greatly. It shut down the whole
fuckin' thing, man. And it has ramifications that filter down through
a huge community of people. Serious, serious ramifications - this is
no ordinary bust."

To say the least. The raid, and subsequent closure of the 10-year-old
Montreal Compassion Club outlet on the Plateau, means a great deal of
worry and uncertainty for their 1,700-plus client base who depend on
medicinal cannabis to alleviate the symptoms of multiple sclerosis,
cancer, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic
pain, etc., all of which are verified with a doctor's statement of
diagnosis.

"What we require are people with a Health Canada licence," explains
McKenzie. "These are people who are actually walking around with a
card saying that it's legitimate for them to use this substance as
medicine. Or we need a statement of diagnosis by your doctor, which we
verify."

Was the Montreal Compassion Club aware of the Lachine outfit? "We were
aware of it, but what do you do? If you're looking for the criminal
activity here, all the fingers point at Parliament Hill. You've got a
huge industry in this country that is growing by leaps and bounds, and
right now it's unregulated completely - it's like the Wild West out
there. You could open a compassion club in your living room tomorrow
if you wanted, nobody's going to stop you..."

"Actually," he starts laughing, "maybe they might now. But that's
exactly what these guys did in Lachine - they just opened a shop and
started selling weed, under the guise of compassion."

If they were lacking in compassion, they weren't in ambition. "Our
goal is to have 250 locations across Canada serving the 3 million
Canadians who openly admit to consuming therapeutic cannabis," reads
the 420 Club website. "After only four months in operation, we have
already begun the process of opening 15 new independent regional
dispensaries in the greater Montreal Area."

Ha! Can't see anyone having a problem with that...

Quite apart from putting a legitimate compassion club out of business,
the arrests also put quite a number of good people out of work. "We
operate seven days a week, so that's 10 people who lost their jobs
here, plus there are some residual people, like the guy who did the
baking, who did all our cookies, stuff like that. It's a fuckin' mess,
man."

"We've got a court date on June 23 and we'll find out where we stand,"
he says, noting that they haven't been given any indication of how
aggressively the courts intend to pursue their cases. "None
whatsoever, though I hope to get that soon. But I can tell you this:
The police were absolute gentlemen, they came in, and it was all very,
very civil. At no time did we feel intimidated... We got the
impression that they really weren't too happy to be doing this."