Highway 7 site believed to be operating legally BRESLAU - Waterloo Regional Police say they're monitoring a large marijuana grow-op at the former Waterloo Flowers greenhouse site - and believe it's operating within the law for medical marijuana for "personal consumption." The site isn't owned by one of the 28 federally licensed producers in Ontario that supply's Canada's mail-order medical marijuana, and its less-than-discreet cannabis production beside a busy Highway 7 has prompted rampant speculation among neighbours. [continues 425 words]
'Is it justice in the community?' - Judge criticizes Waterloo Regional Police decision to launch a raid KITCHENER - A provincial court judge criticized the Waterloo Regional Police's decision to raid an illegal marijuana dispensary in uptown Waterloo last summer, suggesting a warning might have been sufficient to close it down. Instead, a young Kitchener couple were in court Wednesday, facing criminal convictions for operating a dispensary they say only sold cannabis to adults with medical marijuana licences. Justice Colin Westman wondered aloud why their Waterloo Dispensary, which sold marijuana out of a second-floor business on King Street, was busted by police in August when other local dispensaries were given written warnings a few months later. [continues 984 words]
KITCHENER - The manager of the region's only compassion club for people with medical marijuana licences says she's still doing what she can to help her members - after a police crackdown sent her patients "to the street." Sandra Thornton's cellphone is ringing seven days a week with people calling with questions about marijuana they're buying from street-level drug dealers, asking how they can cook with it or turn it into a baked good that's easier for them to consume. [continues 539 words]
The Record speaks to a wide range of people who shun normal painkillers KITCHENER - William Campbell and his wife were on their way to a friend's 25th wedding anniversary one night in 2008 when a drunk driver pulled out in front of them. They didn't have time to stop. Campbell, 53, was hospitalized after the head-on collision, and everything in his life would change. Earlier that day, he'd aced an exam to become a lab technician, after getting laid off from a furniture factory where he'd worked for 22 years. [continues 2148 words]
Chief Larkin says 'home (pot) farmers' a worry, as Liberal, Tory MPs at odds WATERLOO REGION - Waterloo Region's top law enforcement official says "society has spoken" and his officers will be ready for the legalization of recreational marijuana by next summer. But Waterloo Regional Police Chief Bryan Larkin still has concerns about the challenges to police trying to catch people who toke and drive - and keep an eye on all the potential "home farmers" who might want to grow their own marijuana plants. [continues 844 words]
KITCHENER - Just weeks after it was raided by police and its employees carted away in handcuffs, an illegal marijuana dispensary is open again under a new name and "new management." The former Green Tree Medical Dispensary at 650 King St. E. in Kitchener was shut down March 10 as part of a police crackdown on the unregulated storefronts that have been popping up around the region. Signs for Green Tree, part of a national chain with a shadowy ownership based in British Columbia, remain on the building - but a handwritten message taped to a desk inside the business' front entrance says it's now called Herbal Leaf. [continues 582 words]
KITCHENER - A local medical cannabis advocate says he hopes Waterloo Region's marijuana dispensaries closed in a recent crackdown by police can reopen under impending legalization planned by Ottawa. Peter Thurley is a former federal NDP candidate and one of 700 medical marijuana users shut out of the Organix Compassion club when it closed its doors this month after pressure from police. That's why the news the Liberal government is planning legislation that will legalize recreational marijuana use by Canada Day 2018 presents an odd contradiction for people like him. [continues 494 words]
While Green Tree workers face charges, not much is known about operator KITCHENER - While four employees arrested at a Kitchener marijuana dispensary face ongoing criminal charges, the owner who actually pocketed the proceeds from the illegal sales is nowhere to be found. When police raided Green Tree Medical Dispensary on King Street, they seized $17,000 in cash, plus almost $27,000 in marijuana and $5,400 in hashish. Investigators knew the store was doing brisk business, but who was collecting all that money remains murky. [continues 537 words]
Five were warned they're at risk of being raided; one operator says he can't let 'our patients' down KITCHENER - Waterloo Regional Police say they've warned five illegal marijuana dispensaries in the region they're at risk of being raided if they continue to flout the laws around selling cannabis. After getting visits from officers and written warnings, several of the dispensaries have shut down. One that refused - Green Tree Medical Dispensary - was busted Friday by police, who seized $26,800 in pot, $5,400 in hash, edibles and $17,000 in cash. [continues 761 words]
Police say they seized $26,800-worth of marijuana; four people arrested KITCHENER - After issuing warnings to the region's growing number of unlicensed marijuana dispensaries, Waterloo Regional Police raided a prominent downtown cannabis retailer - seizing significant quantities of pot and cash. The Friday-night bust at Green Tree Medical Dispensary on King Street East came after an investigation that began last month into the businesses, which the police say remain illegal despite changing legislation on the horizon. Four people, three women and a male employee, were arrested and charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking in the raid. Officers loaded large bags of pot, hash, edible pot products and drinks into vehicles as they cleared out the downtown shop. [continues 432 words]
KITCHENER - Medical marijuana users in Waterloo Region are wondering where to turn now that the city's oldest compassion club has closed its doors following a recent police crackdown on local pot dispensaries. Organix Compassion shut down voluntarily Tuesday following a raid on another Kitchener dispensary, Green Tree Medical Dispensary. The pressure from police has struck fear into the region's pot dispensaries, who say they've stopped selling marijuana following warnings from the authorities. But for the 700 or so members of Kitchener's Organix Compassion club, it means they're scrambling to find new ways to get cannabis to treat a range of medical conditions from nausea caused by cancer to arthritis to chronic pain. [continues 704 words]
Few People Openly Smoke As Locals Take Part In Pro-marijuana Demonstration KITCHENER - They came, they listened to loud music, they played hacky-sack. A pro-marijuana rally in front of Kitchener's City Hall marking 4/20, cannabis culture's annual day of celebration, felt like more of an afternoon hang-out than a political demonstration Sunday. "Some people celebrate Easter, we have 4/20. This is our holiday," said 18-year-old John Angus of Cambridge, who brought his giant glass bong to the rally. [continues 504 words]
In defence of Robert Munsch What's in a name? For some people in Mount Albert, Ont., quite a lot, apparently. School officials in the community south of Lake Simcoe are dealing with a surprising pushback over plans for a new school, set to open next fall. The problem? The school's name - Robert Munsch Public School. Munsch, the Guelph-based author of bestselling children's books that include Love You Forever and Paper Bag Princess, has done far more for children's literary understanding than most of us will ever do. His wildly entertaining stories and his exuberant public performances make reading fun for kids. But some people, according to a story in a York Region newspaper this week, have taken issue with Munsch being honoured in Mount Albert. [continues 384 words]
Well, that was a big waste of time and money. But wasn't that the point? Charges against the founder and two employees of the Medical Cannabis Centre of Guelph were dropped by Justice Bruce Durno this week after the case was dragged through the courts for more than two years. That's about two years too late. A little refresher. The Baker Street cannabis club was raided by Guelph police in May 2010. They found an estimated $100,000 in marijuana and cash at the local compassion club and five other addresses. [continues 589 words]
I'm confused. Not dazed and confused. Just confused. The source of my confusion is the decision by the Guelph Police Service to bust the Medical Cannabis Club of Guelph last week, which led to trafficking charges against four staff, including founder Rade Kovacevic. Part of my confusion may be because the message from Canadian officials on marijuana use is as mixed as a 1988 cassette tape. (Note to readers: a long, long time ago, music came in a strange format called a cassette tape and teenagers would create eclectic mixes of their favourite songs, which, consequently, is illegal). [continues 581 words]
What Was Once Only a Big-City Phenomena Is Hitting Close to Home As Police Find They Are Dealing With a New Breed of Criminal on the Streets of Waterloo Region The young men who push drugs on Waterloo Region's streets today are increasingly sophisticated, better armed and more prone to violence. They represent a new breed of street-gang foot soldier and they're forcing local police to change their tactics. That's the sober assessment of Staff Sgt. Daryl Goetz, the veteran commander of the Waterloo regional police criminal intelligence unit. [continues 2222 words]
Fear and anger overflowed at a packed public meeting in Cambridge last night, organized by residents who say they feel terrorized by drug dealers in their downtown neighbourhood. Some women broke into tears and others visibly shook as they described being too scared to leave their Galt apartments for fear of being hurt by addicts or crack sellers. One woman said she has been threatened and chased down Main Street by drug dealers because she's trying to force them out of her building. [continues 418 words]
Popular Music Teacher and Her Husband Face Charges After Police Seize More Than $100,000 Worth of Drugs Students at a Waterloo public school will take home letters today explaining their popular music teacher has been removed from duty after being charged in a sophisticated drug operation that has ties to the United States. [name redacted], 35, a teacher at Centennial Public School, was charged with trafficking along with her husband [name redacted] and one-time soccer star and Olympian [name redacted], after police raided her upscale Brookmill Crescent home in the Laurelwood area of Waterloo last week. [continues 758 words]
Task Force Report Finds Inconsistencies In Implementation And In The Number Of Students Suspended Local education officials expect fewer kids will be kicked out of school if changes to a controversial safe schools law are adopted. In a report submitted last week, a provincial task force spearheaded by Guelph-Wellington MPP Liz Sandals argues the five-year-old Safe Schools Act causes schools to focus more on expelling and suspending students than preventing the behaviour that leads them to that point. [continues 957 words]
Six weeks into his prison term at the Springhill Institution for conspiring to traffic marijuana, Michael Patriquen suddenly became very ill. His joints and muscles began to burn. His cognitive skills began to dim as insomnia took over. Extreme flu-like symptoms and fatigue meant even walking became a painful ordeal. It took two fellow inmates to carry the Nova Scotia man from his cell to the prison cafeteria just to fetch a coffee. [continues 3270 words]
