WE'RE NOT LIKE OTHERS: COMPASSION CLUB CHIEF

Facing Charges

They're giving us bad name, he says

Irresponsible business practices are giving medical marijuana a bad
reputation, says Montreal Compassion Club leader Marc-Boris St-Maurice.

St-Maurice is slated to appear in court today with seven of his
employees, all facing charges stemming from the police raids of four
compassion clubs in Montreal on June 3. The clubs, which have all
since been shut down, claimed to sell marijuana to those in need for
medical purposes, mostly pain control.

"It took us 10 years to build up our credibility and now we're being
grouped in with centres like Culture 420 in Lachine, who we have no
connection to," said St-Maurice, who spoke with media yesterday.
"They're claiming they have a legal contract to sell marijuana, which
is frankly dishonest and both detrimental and dangerous for the
people that we serve."

The use and cultivation of marijuana for certain medical conditions
has been legal under Canadian law since 2001. However, it is illegal
to sell the substance, and the only legitimate way to obtain it is
through Health Canada.

"We know that it's not legal to sell it," St-Maurice said. "But there
is a genuine need for it, and we have been tolerated by authorities
for 10 years now because we operate in a careful and professional manner."

Last month, the city of Montreal said it received several complaints
about the Culture 420 club in Lachine after multiple witnesses said
they saw young, healthy looking people visiting the store on a
regular basis. "It's called wilful blindness," St-Maurice said. "It's
one thing to take sworn declarations about people's conditions and
it's quite another to close one's eyes to false representation."

Roughly five kilograms of marijuana were seized from the Lachine club
during the subsequent raid and 11 people from the location were arrested.

"The raids have had a series of direct and indirect effects on the
community," StMaurice said. "Most importantly, sick people who use
this service have no access to medicine right now and they have to
turn to the black market or other means to get their medicine."

That stress can put a strain on their medical conditions, he said,
adding that the standard of the marijuana is lower on the black
market and people have no way of knowing what substances are mixed into it.

" We serve people with Health Canada documentation and those with
doctor's diagnosis and recommendation letters," St-Maurice said.
"We're not claiming to be perfect but we're definitely doing
everything we can to operate professionally. I question if that is
the case at other places."

St-Maurice and his seven employees are facing charges of drug
trafficking, possession with intent to traffic and conspiracy to
traffic. All Montreal compassion clubs have been shut down
indefinitely as city police have decreed a "zero-tolerance" for the
sale of marijuana.

"We are respectful of the legal process, but it is very long and
people are suffering in the meantime," St-Maurice said. "We want our
reputation to remain intact and we want the public to know we have no
connection with Culture 420 and we do not condone their practices."