TWO CHARGED IN DRUG RAID

The London Compassion Society, Providing Therapeutic Marijuana, Has
Been Shut Down.

Raid Closes Local Compassion Society

Drugs worth nearly $1 million -- including 840 marijuana plants --
were found in several units of a downtown building raided by London
drug squad officers.

The office of the London Compassion Society was one of four units at
343 Richmond St. searched by police on Saturday.

Officers seized 840 marijuana plants, marijuana, magic mushrooms,
LSD, cocaine and $22,000 in Canadian and American currency, police
said yesterday.

[redacted] are charged with several drug-related offences, including
possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking.

Police are continuing their investigation.

Two employees of the Organic Traveller, a store at 343 Richmond St.
selling drug paraphernalia, said [redacted] owned the store and also
operated the London Compassion Society out of a unit at the same address.

"I came into work Saturday morning and there were cops standing in
the lobby," said [redacted], one of the workers at the store.

"They marched me in the back and asked me for ID and there were cops
everywhere."

The London Compassion Society is part of a network of societies
across Canada that opened to provide marijuana to people who use it
for medical reasons.

A message on the society's answering machine yesterday said it will
be "closed until further notice."

Marc Emery, a former Londoner and one of Canada's best known
crusaders for the legalization of marijuana, denounced the police
raid on the London Compassion Society.

"It's clearly an injustice and clearly they're going to hurt people
by this action," he said in from Vancouver, where he now resides.

"It's a terrible tragedy because otherwise people will be grubbing
around on the streets" to obtain marijuana they are legally entitled
to, Emery said.

Growing equipment and 840 plants in various stages of growth were
found in three units at at 343 Richmond St, police said.

Though marijuana grow operations are common in homes, they have
rarely been found in London apartments.

Grow ops can be found within a 15-minute walk of any house in London,
police Chief Murray Faulkner said last night.

"This is a significant drug bust but by no means will it slow our
drug squad down at all," he said.

"Drugs are driving a lot of criminal offences in our city."

A resident in the building said he was not surprised to see police
early Saturday morning.

"I saw a lot of police, but here that can mean anything," said Jamie Nagy.

"I didn't hear anything about this, but it surprises me. If it was a
grow house, you think I would have smelled it."

[redacted], another employee of the Organic Traveller who would only
give his first name, questioned why police would crack down on grow
houses, when violent crime and harder drug use is common.

"Why are they busting grow houses when there are crack houses
nearby?" said [redacted]. "They never touch them. People are out
there, stabbing and harassing others, and they come here."

The workers also praised the compassion society as offering a
necessary service to those with medical needs, and questioned why
police would shut it down.

"There are people there with arthritis, or in a wheelchair with AIDS
and cancer, and they eat cookies and brownies that make them feel
better," [redacted] said. "They are very transparent about what they do."

The centre requires medical proof of illness and have to apply for admission.