MEDICINAL MARIJUANA GROWERS CHARGED

SMITHS FALLS -- Town police have laid drug charges against an area
couple in connection with a Smiths Falls business that grew medicinal
marijuana without a government permit last year.

Samantha Klinck, 29, CEO of Carasel Harvest Supply Corporation, and
her husband Aaron, 31, were arrested Wednesday and charged with
possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking
and cultivation, police said.

The Klincks were later released. They are to appear in court in Perth
Monday, March 21.

The arrest follows an investigation after police raided the company,
housed in the former Canadian Tire outlet at 39-41 Centre Street, last
August 4 and confiscated 221 marijuana plants with an estimated street
value of about $220,000.

Carasel had been growing medicinal marijuana since last February.
Police said in August they seized the plants after determining the
company was not licensed by Health Canada.

Samantha Klinck had met with the town council's planning committee the
day before the raid to discuss amending the zoning bylaw to permit a
greenhouse. The town council later refused the rezoning.

Smiths Falls Police Sergeant Frank Westerlaken said the case had been
under investigation since the August raid, but the matter is more
complex than a usual drug-growing case and so required more time.

"It's not like your standard grow operation," he said. "Their position
was that they were growing (it) for people that could legally possess
it."

Westerlaken was reluctant to discuss the case further, noting the
matter is now before the courts.

Samantha Klinck, reached at home Wednesday, refused to comment on the
charges but said her company would probably issue a statement later in
the week.

She referred questions to the company's Toronto lawyer, Ron Marzel,
who was unavailable for comment.

After last year's raid, Marzel speculated that Carasel grew the
marijuana because it wanted to get the medication to critically ill
people as quickly as possible.