PETITION ORGANIZED FOR MEDICAL POT

Proponents of Medical Marijuana Are Organizing After a Langley
Dispensary Was Shut Down.

The former clients of a Langley medical marijuana dispensary raided by
RCMP last month are organizing a petition and campaign to have it re-opened.

"People should be able to access medicine that has been prescribed by
their doctor," said Dan Mackle, who was the first client of the
dispensary, which ran for about 11 months in Langley City on Fraser
Highway.

Randy Caine, the local business owner who opened and operated the
dispensary, was licensed by Health Canada to supply marijuana to three
clients, but had about 150 active members when it was raided in July.

Police seized pot and baked goods along with some cash.

Now Mackle and others from among the former clients are seeking names
on a petition asking Langley City to allow a dispensary to re-open as
an official pilot project.

Because the dispensary operated un-molested by police for almost a
year, Mackle and others thought it was being allowed to continue.

"I thought we had a good relationship with the police," he
said.

The raid has left him with a prescription for medical marijuana, but
no means of getting a supply, aside from seeking out drug dealers.

"That's not something I support," he said.

Pain and spasms were making it hard for him to continue working,
Mackle said, and conventional painkillers were not working anymore. He
switched to medical marijuana and it has eased his symptoms and
allowed him to continue working, he said.

Once he and other members have gathered signatures and public support,
they plan to bring their case before City council, probably in
September, Mackle said. He said he was hoping that members of the
group might gather signatures Sunday, Aug. 28 in downtown Langley City.

After the raid, Caine defended the operation of the dispensary, which
did not have a business license, on the basis of recent court rulings
about access to medically prescribed pot.

The raid on the Langley dispensary was one of three launched by the
RCMP over a few weeks. Dispensaries and compassion clubs in Burnaby
and Chilliwack were also raided in late July. Meanwhile, over the
summer the federal government announced it would look at reducing the
number of people allowed to grow medical marijuana.

Langley's mayors and RCMP have expressed concern about medical grows,
which while legal, can be the target of violence from gangsters
looking to steal and re-sell the crop. Due to privacy laws, the RCMP
do not know the location of a legal, medical grow when it is
established.