Drug Squad Raids

CRAMAHE FARM PROPERTY USED TO GROW MEDICAL MARIJUANA

A local woman featured in a recent story about medical marijuana use
sat in a Whitby jail last weekend after OPP drug squad officers raided
her Cramahe Township home October 19.

Late Friday afternoon officers from the Kawartha Combined Forces Drug
Unit, accompanied by members of Northumberland Detachment OPP,
arrested Dianne Bruce and her 18-year-old daughter Michelle after
executing a search warrant on her Dundonald-area property. Dianne
Bruce was remanded in custody pending her bail hearing in Cobourg on
Monday. Michelle was released on her own recognizance, and allowed to
return home.

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Jerry Kresjola, Bruce's
partner in the medical marijuana operation.

All three have been charged with Production of a Controlled Substance,
and Possession of a Controlled Substance for the Purpose of
Trafficking.

Bruce was featured in the October 10 edition of The Independent in a
story about the medical use of marijuana. The feature included
information about "exemptees," people approved by Health Canada to
possess or grow marijuana, or to designate someone else to legally
grow the plants for them under Controlled Drugs and Substances Act
(CDSA) regulations.

The federal government passed amendments to Section 56 of those
regulations on July 31 this year, outlining the rules for growing and
possessing medical marijuana. Bruce's company, Lady Dyz Helping Hands,
was producing marijuana according to those rules, she said during an
earlier interview.

Last Saturday Michelle Bruce phoned a reporter from The Independent to
say police had seized marijuana, office equipment and a crossbow from
her mother's house. Kresjola was not home when the raid took place,
and she believed he was in hiding, she said.

Later the same day Kresjola called The Independent to say he had "a
gut feeling something was going to happen soon," and that he had
removed most of the medical marijuana from the house before Friday.

In a telephone interview Monday morning, OPP Sgt. Rick Barnum, who led
the raid on the Bruce property, said this was a "black and white" case
involving people who were growing marijuana illegally.

"I think (the raid) was done very fairly, but there is no gray area
here," Barnum said. "Nowhere in the (CDSA) regulations is there
authority for one person to grow medical marijuana for another person."

Barnum said Friday's police action was the result of "information, a
complaint, that came to light three weeks ago," and took place only
after "a lot of consultation with the federal crown attorney, the
Ministry of Health, and others."

"There was some information that we had to verify, and when it turned
out to be false, that's when we decided to go execute a warrant at
Dianne's place," he said.

Barnum said that information did not involve Bruce's status as an
exemptee under Section 56 of the CDSA regulations, but would not
elaborate further.

"We're not arguing that (Bruce) was growing marijuana for exemptees,
or that a number of exemptees were counting on her to do so," Barnum
said. "We have some sensitivity to their situation, but what Dianne
was doing was illegal."

"It comes down to the bottom line that no exemptee has authority to
grow marijuana for anybody else, or to have somebody grow it for
them," he said.

Health Canada regulations provide for exemptees to designate someone
else to grow the controversial herb with a license from the ministry.

Under the Marijuana Medical Access Regulations, any exemptee "who
wishes to have a Designated Person to grow for them" can apply with
that designee for a license to produce marijuana someplace other than
the exemptee's home. Aside from security precautions, and minimum
distance separation requirements from other properties, the only other
restriction is that non-resident growers "have not been convicted as
an adult of a designated drug offence" either inside or outside Canada
within the past 10 years. Although Kresjola was charged last year with
a drug offence in Durham Region, neither he nor Bruce had a registered
drug conviction at the time of the OPP raid. Bruce has made a formal
application to be a designated grower.

Health Canada spokesman Andrew Smith said his department has received
applications from potential designated growers, but has not approved
any to date.

"I can't identify individuals, but the answer to your question is,
Health Canada has not approved any licenses for designated people to
grow marijuana for exemptees," Smith said.

Alison Myrden, an exemptee from Burlington who has Multiple Sclerosis,
is one of 40 exemptees who leased property from Bruce, and hired her
to tend their medical marijuana crop. Police interpret regulations to
suit their own beliefs about marijuana leading to harder drug use, she
said.

"I get very angry when police take our medicine away because they have
decided our rules don't apply to them," Myrden said last Sunday.
"Every grow I have been involved in, from B.C., to the Toronto area,
to Dianne's, has been busted."

"(Police) just don't get it. We are not recreational smokers (of
marijuana); we are sick people," she said. Barnum estimated "about 40
pounds" of marijuana was seized from Lady Dyz, with a "street value"
of $80,000. It is that "street" perception that bothers Myrden.

"To the police the words 'growing marijuana' automatically means
selling drugs on the street," she said. "The only street Dianne is
supplying is the one with sick and dying people who just want some
relief."

Myrden said because most exemptees are "strain specific" it is
necessary to find people who know how to cultivate different varieties
of marijuana properly. Quite often these growers have had contact with
the police because of a history of growing the plant. That makes them
the "wrong" kind of people in police eyes, she said.

"Even if you think that the people growing marijuana are not 'your'
kind of people, we value them because they know how to grow our
medicine," Myrden said.

"Ultimately, the police are trying to force (exemptees) hands, driving
us back to the street dealers by shutting down legal operations," she
said. "We're literally running scared."

Professor Allan Young, an Osgoode Hall lawyer who advocates for
proponents of medical marijuana use, said Bruce and Kresjola may have
inadvertently brought the raid upon themselves. They made several
calls to police regarding trespassers, including an allegation that
some intruders were armed, and that may have prompted police to act
quickly, he said.

"I'm only speculating, but once police had information that guns were
involved, and there was potential for violence, they may have decided
there was no choice but to shut Dianne and Jerry down," Young said.