Pubdate: Fri, 11 Aug 2017
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Jacquie Miller
Page: A1

POT SHOP OBJECTOR LEFT HIGH AND DRY

'Everyone is just standing still, letting it happen'

When a shop openly selling marijuana opened a couple blocks from her
home, Angie Todesco was astounded.

A year later, she shuffles through a file folder of official responses
from authorities she figured might have some power to shut down a
store illegally selling drugs. She's written, emailed or called
everyone from the prime minister to the Manor Park Community
Association. "It doesn't amount to a hill of beans," she says.

It's not easy to get rid of a pot shop.

"Basically, everyone is just standing still and letting it happen," is
Todesco's conclusion. "Nobody is responsible."

The federal government has pledged to legalize recreational pot by
July 2018. In the meantime, illegal shops proliferate, their numbers
barely dented by sporadic police raids. There are about 18 marijuana
dispensaries in Ottawa.

Todesco, 71, says she's no "crazy lady" on a crusade. She's a baby
boomer who went to the University of Toronto back when parts of campus
were "drug central" and she's tried marijuana.

But it offends her sense of justice that drug laws are being broken
with impunity, and pot shops tend to set up in "already impoverished
and hard-done-by areas. "It just puzzles me that we are acting in a
lazy, nobody-wants-totake-charge way."

Todesco supports medical marijuana, which is legal for patients with a
prescription who order it by mail from growers licensed by Health Canada.

But Todesco quickly learned that the WeeMedical "Dispensary Society"
on St. Laurent Boulevard about 300 metres from her home was operating
illegally. "If this is a medical need," Todesco wrote in one of two
emails to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, "why is it being introduced
with no seeming safeguards in the seediest parts of the city, with
everyone turning a blind eye?

"If this is a medical dispensary, why is it not housed in a pharmacy
where other pharmaceuticals are dispensed. … Is the young man with hat
and dark glasses outside on a chair the pharmacist checking that the
dosage is correct, that there are no interactions with other
medications?"

Todesco said she's seen Trudeau and his children biking down the
parkway along the nearby Ottawa River. In her letter, she invited the
prime minister to take a small detour to check out WeeMedical. It
adjoins residential areas, including her own quiet, tree-lined street.

The pot shop is also bad for property values, she says. "Nobody in his
right mind would want one in the neighbourhood."

Todesco also worries about pot-shop products finding their way into
the hands of children. During a visit this week, the store was selling
dried weed, vape pens, shatter (concentrated cannabis) cans of pop,
brownies and chocolate bars with labels designed to mimic popular bars
like Snickers. The company that produces the candy bars, Herbivores
Edibles, boasts on its Facebook page that the bars "have no cannabis
taste."

After repeatedly phoning Ottawa police to complain about the shop,
Todesco filed a complaint against the force. Ottawa police raided
WeeMedical on St. Laurent in November 2016 during a one-day sweep of
dispensaries. Staff were charged with drug trafficking, but the shop
soon reopened.

An internal police investigation triggered by Todesco's complaint
concluded that police acted appropriately.

Police monitor the pot shops. But they don't have the staff to
allocate "full time resources to individual store front
investigations," said the report. The police service is "actively
engaged in this issue with a citywide perspective versus individual
store locations.

"This allows the police to prioritize investigative resources, take a
more citywide approach to this issue and consider all factors in
laying criminal charges."

The shops pose challenges, said the report. "There is a nomadic nature
to these dispensaries. They become travelling road shows to avoid
detection …"

The stores are often interconnected, sharing staff and supplies, the
report noted. "The high level ownership does not live in Ontario or
sometimes in Canada. They acquire their supplies from a varied supply
chain, making it difficult to track, predict and therefore interrupt.
The staff are often users of the product and are therefore reticent to
co-operate with police or any investigative body."

The police drug unit focuses its attention on the marijuana suppliers,
said the report. "The ultimate goal is to limit their ability to
operate because of lack of merchandise." Police also try to convince
landlords to stop renting to dispensaries. Many don't realize the
stores are illegal, said the report. "Many landlords/property owners
are victims in this situation in that they were misled and now have
lease agreements in place."

Magued Khristo, the landlord of the building that houses WeeMedical on
St. Laurent, said he sent the shop an eviction notice a couple of
months ago, but it was ignored.

The rental deal was arranged through a real-estate agent, said
Khristo. He said he was under the impression the business was legal.
It's difficult to figure out who is running the shop, because the
staff changes frequently, he said.

When the Citizen visited this week, the staffer declined to identify
herself or the manager, but promised to pass along a message. No one
called back. The store opened last summer when a B.C.-based outfit set
up a string of dispensaries in town.

Todesco says her letters to officialdom are getting more snarky as her
frustration rises. She won't give up, though. Her next step is to take
the matter to the Ottawa Police Services Board.

"I'm going to push it to the limit. Even if it means annoying them."
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MAP posted-by: Matt