Pubdate: Tue, 28 Mar 2017
Source: Ottawa Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2017 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact: http://www.ottawasun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://www.ottawasun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/329
Author: Jacquie Miller
Page: 3

PROMISES DON'T HELP 'BUDTENDERS'

Pot-shop workers confused by raids, legalization

Canadians may be able to celebrate Canada Day in 2018 by legally
smoking a joint, but that's small consolation to the 21-year-old clerk
who was working the security desk at the Cannabis Culture shop on Bank
Street on Monday.

He shrugged off the news that the federal government plans to have all
the regulations in place for legal pot by July 1, 2018. That's the
timeline reported by CBC, citing unnamed sources. The government had
promised to introduce legislation to legalize recreational marijuana
this spring.

"I'm hoping, but I have my doubts," said the 'budtender,' one of five
people arrested on May 9 when police raided the shop.

"All they do is lie," he said, expressing a common suspicion among
those in the "cannabis community" of government promises.

The man didn't want his identity revealed because after he was charged
with drug trafficking he was released with conditions that included
not going into a marijuana dispensary.

He was sitting at the front desk of the Bank Street shop, checking IDs
and buzzing a steady stream of customers into the back room that
contains dried weed and other cannabis products. He shrugged. "I have
a seventh grade education. I can't really get a job anywhere else. I
have bills. I can't just sit at home and be broke."

Cannabis Culture is paying the legal fees for the five clerks who were
charged during the raid. They are to appear in court Wednesday, when
supporters are planning a rally in front of the courthouse.

Fellow budtender Ming Saad called police raids on the illegal shops
"ridiculous." Ottawa police have raided 14 dispensaries since
November, arresting 29 people.

"They're going to be legalizing it. I don't understand why they are
wasting so much money."

Cannabis activists such as she aren't willing to wait any longer, she
said.

"We don't want to keep people away from their medication, or their
recreational use. I believe I'm doing something that's helping people,
even if at the end of the day I'm in handcuffs."

It's widely expected the federal government will license and control
the production of marijuana but give provinces the power to decide
where it will be sold. A federal task force that studied the issue
recommended that provinces work in "close collaboration" with
municipalities.

The City of Ottawa should start getting ready now, says Counc. Riley
Brockington, vice-chair of the city's community and protective
services committee.

The city can start consulting with the community and with businesses
interesting in selling marijuana, says Brockington.

In Vancouver, for-profit dispensaries pay a $30,000 business licence
and have restrictions on their location and operation.

Brockington says he'd like to see Ottawa adopt similar regulations
once pot is legal.
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