Pubdate: Tue, 14 Sep 2004
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2004 The Province
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Steve Berry, The Province
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

DRUG CAFE'S SPOKESMAN HAS FRAUD, THEFT RECORD

A man who helps run the Da Kine Smoke and Beverage Shop, Commercial
Street's controversial marijuana shop, has a record for fraud and theft.

And the woman listed as the shop's director is the daughter of Don
Briere, who was convicted of being one of B.C.'s biggest marijuana
growers.

Lorne McLeod, who says he speaks for the cafe's management, was
sentenced to 12 months in jail and ordered to pay $139,498.82 in
restitution to his victims of fraud and theft in October 2000.

McLeod, an advocate for divorced fathers at the time, was accepting
money from at least three clients who did not want their spouses to
have access to their cash. He claimed to be investing it overseas in
"safe haven accounts." The money disappeared.

McLeod was also sentenced to 84 days in jail for failing to pay child
support for his two children in 1992.

McLeod faced charges of fraud and theft in North Vancouver in 1998 but
those charges were stayed, court records show.

Colleen Denise Briere Smart of Maple Ridge is listed as the only
director of the Da Kine Smoke and Beverage Shops Ltd. on the finance
ministry's corporate and personal property registry.

Her father, Don, was sentenced to four years in prison in October 2001
for running a string of grow ops.

Surrey Provincial Court Judge Gurmail Gill said Briere "was the
directing mind" behind a very large operation.

Police found 113 kilograms of dried B.C. bud valued at $650,000 and
about $50,000 in grow equipment in his Surrey warehouse when he was
busted in 1999.

Police also found $300,000 in cash at his home. Briere owned
properties in the Lower Mainland and the Interior.

Briere founded the Canadian Sanctuary Society in conjunction with the
Marijuana Party to raise funds for the medical use of pot. He also ran
provincially for the Marijuana Party.

"Pot's going to be legalized and when it is, I'm going to be in this
business," Briere told The Province in an interview before going to
jail. "I don't want to go into any other business but this business."

A Da Kine spokesman said it gets its marijuana from the Sanctuary
Society. McLeod said the cafe sells its pot to people who need it for
medical reasons.

Vancouver police raided the cafe last Thursday and found 9.5 kilos of
pot, 450 grams of hash and more than $63,000 in cash. Owner Carol
Gwilt and seven staff members were charged with various drug offences
and sent to jail overnight. Gwilt was also charged with possessing
proceeds of crime.

They are to appear in Vancouver provincial court Oct. 6 on charges of
possessing marijuana for trafficking.

A hearing into the cafe's business licence is scheduled at Vancouver
City Hall the same day.

McLeod claimed that business licence documents submitted to city hall
last January indicated the cafe would be selling pot.

But a licence taken out in May is for a "limited-service food
establishment" and has no mention of marijuana.

The licence also has a "no smoking" condition on it.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Derek