COPS QUIET ON DETAILS OF MEDICINAL POT BUST

Nanaimo RCMP are still not releasing details on their raid last Friday
of a medicinal marijuana operation in Cedar that had an expired
licence from Health Canada.

But Const. Gary O'Brien said the RCMP were justified in carrying out
the raid on the pot operation at David Hodgkinson's residence, and
will release more details at a later date.

"We don't just target these types of operations without a good
reason," O'Brien said Tuesday.

"I don't think that would be moral or in the spirit of the
law."

Hodgkinson has been growing medicinal marijuana in his house for about
a year under a licence to cultivate the controversial herb from Health
Canada.

Hodgkinson was licensed to grow up to 49 pot plants, but he said his
licence expired in August, despite the fact that he applied for its
renewal eight weeks before its expiry date, as stipulated by Health
Canada.

While not referring specifically to Hodgkinson's case, Health Canada
claimed it has been backlogged with applications for new licences to
grow medicinal pot and renewals of old licences that have slowed the
application process.

Karl Anderson, executive director of the Canadian Safe Cannabis
Society and a licensed medicinal marijuana grower, said a similar
situation happened to him last year at his home in Kamloops.

"My licence was valid at the time, but the police raided my operation
anyway," he said.

"I was never charged and my equipment was returned but much of it was
damaged beyond repair. I find these cases to be utterly disgraceful."