POT DISPENSARY OWNER WANTS TO TALK

The owner of the Langley Medical Marijuana Dispensary which was raided
by the RCMP July 19 wants to meet with the community.

Randy Caine has organized a townhall meeting for 7 p.m. on Aug. 2 at
the Douglas Recreation Centre to hear from residents about their views
on having a medical pot dispensary in their community.

"This has always been community driven," he said.

His downtown Langley dispensary on Fraser Highway, which has been open
about 11 months, was the subject of an RCMP raid. Caine estimated they
seized about $15,000 in pot and some baked goods with pot as well as
some cash.

"The dispensary is located in a mixed residential and commercial
building," said RCMP Const. Jillian Roberts. "As a result of receiving
numerous ongoing complaints from the community and area residents,
police began an investigation into these complaints."

These dispensaries are not legal and are not legally authorized by any
authority or legislation in Canada, to distribute marihuana, Roberts
explained.

Caine said the police wanted to take the membership lists but he
fought that and the lists were not seized.

Caine is licensed by Health Canada to provide for three clients but he
admits to having about 150 active clients who have medical
documentation.

"Do we abandon these people?" he asked during an interview with the
Langley Advance.

(The dispensary has about 270 clients in total but some have had their
memberships rejected due to inappropriate conduct and others no longer
need medicinal pot.)

He said the society and government have to realize that marijuana is a
medicine for many people. He points to a recent client who passed away
at 72. The anti-rejection drugs from this heart transplant patient
made him nauseated and pot allowed him to be able to keep food down.

He said the dispensary didn't advertise.

"We began to have physicians recommending that they [patients] come to
us," he said.

Caine said he was always open about the dispensary, with governments
and the police. He's spoken to Supt. Derek Cooke about the dispensary
and when it was broken into about six days after the storefront
dispensary opened, the RCMP was on scene investigating. Caine noted he
wasn't raided nor shut down then.

The dispensary has an HST number, is subject to WorkSafe rules, and
pays into government benefits for staff, he said.

The police warrant said he was trafficking in a controlled substance
but Caine said he has Health Canada licensing and follows the intent
of court decisions which have said pot is a legitimate treatment for
many illnesses.

Health Canada's medical marijuana regulations have been found
unconstitutional in court several times and that forces medical
suppliers to operate in a grey area, he said.

"There is some degree of culpability in this," he said of government
and authorities.

Until the issues around the raid are resolved, people will only find
informa-tion and advocacy at the Langley Medical Marijuana Dispensary.

Health Canada and Crown counsel have not been in contact with him
since the raid. No charges have been laid.

Caine said he has tried to increase the number of people on his
licence and clients have written to Health Canada asking for the
dispensary to be their supplier.

"It's not that there hasn't been that attempt," he
said.

Caine said communities have real concerns about pot in their
communities, but medical marijuana is here and that's why he's tried
to operate a community-based business.

Caine contracts with suppliers he said are not part of the criminal
trade. He said he sells for below black-market prices because people
who are ill often can't work and have difficulty affording medication.

He said he follows Health Canada's set market value, charging about $6
per ounce.

The dispensary only recently started to break even, covering rent and
wages. Caine owns two Hempyz gift and novelty shops and has worked for
years in film and TV, providing the capital for the dispensary.