Pubdate: Thu, 05 Nov 2015
Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
Copyright: 2015 The StarPhoenix
Contact: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400
Author: Charles Hamilton
Page: A1

MARIJUANA PROTESTERS TARGET MAYOR AFTER DISPENSARY RAID

Protesters upset over last week's raid of the Saskatchewan Compassion
Club have set their sights on Saskatoon's mayor.

The group gathered outside city hall Wednesday, many of them holding
signs that read "Don Atchison makes me sick."

"It's discrimination in every sense of the word," said Kelly Anderson,
a compassion club member who is legally prescribed marijuana.

Anderson and others say Saskatoon's mayor is out of touch with the
rest of the country. Cities in B.C., for example, have issued business
licences to marijuana dispensaries that, like the Saskatchewan
Compassion Club, operate outside the medical marijuana regulations set
up by Health Canada.

Anderson and a small group of protesters tried to confront the mayor
inside city hall but were stopped by security outside the hallway
leading to the mayor's office. At one point, Atchison could be seen
behind the glass doors.

"He knows we are here," Anderson said when Atchison refused to
acknowledge or meet the protesters. "He knows we exist."

Richard Brown, Atchison's spokesman, said the mayor would not comment
on matters before the courts - referring to the criminal charges laid
against the compassion club's owner and staff recently - but said
Atchison respects people's right to protest and make their voices
heard on the issue.

Brown said the mayor does not get personally involved in the
operational decisions made by city police.

He said Atchison will wait to see what Prime Minster Justin Trudeau
does with his party's election promise to legalize marijuana for
recreational use.

Outside the building, protester Shane Moore said medical marijuana
helped him manage pain after a work accident that crushed two of his
vertebrae.

"I was hooked on opiates and this is what helped me get off," Moore
said, adding he needed to show solidarity with the club's owner, Mark
Hauk, and the three others who are charged with drug trafficking after
last Tuesday's raid.

Signs of hope were visible amid the anger expressed at the rally.
Anderson said he hopes the new federal justice minister, Jody
Wilson-Raybould, will intervene on behalf of the club.

"I'm imploring her to step in and help these people get their medicine
back," Anderson said.
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MAP posted-by: Matt