POLICE QUESTION POT CLUB'S POLICING EFFORTS

A seven-month reprieve from police raids ended last week for the Cannabis
Buyers Club in Victoria.

Acting on information obtained through an earlier arrest, Victoria police
executed a search warrant Feb. 19 and seized a "large quantity" of
marijuana from the 826 Johnson St. shop used as headquarters for the local
medical marijuana compassion club and the Hempology 101 Society.

It is the fifth time since January 2002 that police have seized products
and/or made arrests at the location.

Victoria police Sgt. Darren Laur says he is "empathetic to the cause of
medicinal marijuana". He adds, however, the department has to draw the line
when it comes to the unlawful distribution of illicit drugs.

"As long as the criminal element is still purchasing marijuana at certain
organizations at a discounted rate and re-selling it downtown, we will
continue to target those organizations," he says.

Laur hints that the Cannabis Buyers Club has little in the way of "checks
and balances" in place to prevent re-selling by its members, who claim to
use marijuana for medical purposes.

"So as a result of that, the compassionate side is bleeding over into the
enforcement side," he says.

Ted Smith, co-founder of the club and Hempology 101, argues that the club
is extremely careful when it comes to screening members and monitoring
their use of the service.

He says anyone caught engaging in an activity that could be construed as
using the marijuana products for other than personal use is immediately cut
off. "We call it a zero tolerance for stupidity," says Smith. "Get caught
once and you're gone."

Smith claims the club's membership totals nearly 1,200 now. To join, he
says people must provide compelling information from their doctor
documenting a medical condition, a prerequisite that causes far more
applicants to be turned down rather than approved. He says the club has a
daily log book in which it records "suspicious" activities. Smith insists
new members are apprised of all of the potential reasons for banishment
when they sign up.

"We'd rather lose dozens of people who are taking small risks and keep the
people who really need the medicine."

Currently, said Laur, there are several distributors of medical marijuana
in the city, but the Cannabis Buyers Club has been the most frequent
subject of police raids.

The city's other sizeable medical marijuana supplier, the 300-member
Vancouver Island Compassion Society, makes its new members sign a contract
stating they will not re-sell and specifically requires them to have a
doctor's prescription for medicinal marijuana. They are also encouraged to
only use the products at home.

"We want people to treat the organization with respect," says society
president Philippe Lucas. "The contract is purely for the safety of the
rest of the membership and says that if they do anything, they endanger the
supply for everyone else."

Lucas says he is concerned with the trend in Victoria of shutting down a
compassion club as the source of a trafficker's marijuana supply. He says
owners of convenience stores or managers of liquor stores aren't arrested
when people are caught bootlegging liquor or cigarettes to minors.

"I do know every time (the Buyer's Club) gets busted there are dozens, if
not hundreds of people who are forced to go back to the street — back to
Centennial Square — to get their medicine," Lucas says.

Laur says that Smith has asked for police help in identifying people
believed to be re-selling or engaged in other illicit activities. But Laur
says the police cannot do that because it infringes on those individuals'
legal rights.

The two men arrested last week, who Smith says are among a rotating group
of people who look after the store from time to time, were charged and
released Feb. 20 under conditions that they not go within a block of the
store or come into contact with Smith.

Smith, who has been arrested four times on marijuana-related charges, said
he hopes to fill city council chambers with medical marijuana advocates
Thursday night in an attempt to inform councillors of the club's plight.

He and a handful of supporters also plan to go to MP David Anderson's
office Friday to try and get some support from the federal cabinet minister.