COMPASSION CLUB RAIDED

The North Island Compassion club, a medical marijuana group, was
busted by Comox Valley RCMP last week.

On Friday, police executed a search warrant on the club's
headquarters on Sixth Street in Courtenay.

They seized several pounds of marijuana, and arrested four people.
RCMP spokeswoman Const. Tammy Douglas confirmed two were charged and
released on a promise to appear in court.

"Police are concerned the club has become a front for marijuana
dealing," said Douglas in a statement. "We recognize there are
conflicting views on the medicinal value of marijuana but it remains
illegal to sell in the manner in which they were conducting business."

Ernie Yacub is a director for the club and claims to be one of the
two persons charged.

He said the bust shook up a lot of his fellow club members, many of
whom he said are already nervous when it comes to getting hold of
medicinal marijuana.

"We're talking about people who are sick in the first place, who are
having all kinds of similar issues anyway, people who are afraid to
talk to their doctors about marijuana ... ," said Yacub. "... So here
we have a legal program where some people can access [medical
marijuana] while the rest of us are criminalized, and the access is denied."

The Compassion Club has been operating for 10 years and has been at
its current location for the last seven. Before that, Yacub said the
club was dispensing marijuana at the train station.

He said police were civil and respectful during the bust on Friday
but added, "If there's something they don't like about our operation,
they can talk to us, instead of coming in here and taking all our medicine..."

Yacub said the club's members - there are 200, by his estimate -
depend on the marijuana for pain relief. Yacub himself suffers from
spinal stenosis.

"Imagine if the cops raided the only pharmacy in town and took
everything. That's what it is for some of our members. Many of them
are already on pharmaceuticals, but they also use [marijuana],
because it works."