Pubdate: Fri, 07 Feb 2014
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Copyright: 2014 Winnipeg Free Press
Contact: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/send_a_letter
Website: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502
Authors: Kevin Rollason and Nick Martin
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?228 (Paraphernalia)

POLICE RAIDS ON HEAD SHOPS DEFLATE WILD PLANET OWNER

A Winnipeg police crackdown on local head shops has claimed its first store.

Roman Panchyshyn, owner of the decades-old Wild Planet on Osborne 
Street, said he has put the building up for sale.

"I don't have the fight in me," Panchyshyn said Thursday. "I don't 
want to waste five years of my life fighting this. I don't want to be 
arrested. I've been in business for 34 years and I know Wild Planet 
makes people happy. I probably have dozens of cancer patients coming here.

"If police continue this, I just don't know where they're going to go 
in the future to buy a vaporizer or something like that."

Panchyshyn said he made the decision after police raids on the Joint 
about three weeks ago and Hemp Haven last week.

Earlier this week, Jeremy Loewen, owner of Hemp Haven on Larsen 
Avenue in Elmwood, told the Free Press police entered his shop last 
week and charged him with selling an instrument for drug use and 
possession of property obtained by crime after a couple purchased a 
water pipe at his shop.

Loewen said other head-shop owners have been warned by police they 
have to close their shops within 30 days or the police will raid 
them, too. The owner of the Joint declined comment.

In a statement late Wednesday, Winnipeg police Det.-Sgt. Natalie 
Aitken confirmed a 42-year-old man was charged with two counts after 
his arrest Jan. 27. She said the investigation began after police 
received complaints from the public.

"In the spring of 2013, as a result of receiving numerous community 
complaints, members of the East District community support unit 
entered into an investigation regarding the distribution of 
drug-related paraphernalia," Aitken said.

After hearing the response from Winnipeg police, Loewen's lawyer, 
Neil Kravetsky, said Thursday he still doesn't understand why his 
client was charged.

"I'd like to know if there was a Crown opinion on this," Kravetsky 
said. "It's in a very old area of the Criminal Code. If something 
like that sticks in this modern age, I'll be flabbergasted."

Panchyshyn said it would help if he and other head-shop owners knew 
for sure what items they have for sale that police are concerned about.

"I sell papers. Are they concerned about that?" he asked.

"The difficulty is there is no list of what needs to go. Why isn't 
there a meeting to say what needs to go? This stuff is 10 per cent of 
my store space, but it generates the money to keep us in business."

The owner of the Canadian Medical Marijuana Clinic in Brandon fired 
off a letter to Winnipeg police Chief Devon Clunis Thursday 
protesting the crackdown.

Jade Ridge said in an interview people need the proper resources and 
the expertise of the shopkeepers to cope with their illnesses.

"It's preposterous. I don't know what's driving that," Ridge said from Brandon.

"Bullying tactics in Winnipeg are not cool. Sick people need those 
kind of places for the resources to educate themselves to take the 
products properly. There's nothing illegal going on there. We really 
highly rely on these shops."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom