T
The420Guy
Guest
Plants destroyed as compassion club leaders met with Allan Rock
At the very moment the federal health minister was discussing
medicinal marijuana with B.C.'s "compassion clubs," police were
raiding the club's supply.
About 1,000 marijuana plants were chopped down and hauled away from
the club's grow operation at a greenhouse in Richmond on Tuesday --
the same day the group met with Health Minister Allan Rock to discuss
the distribution of medical marijuana.
The club's founder thinks Rock deliberately had the Mounties haul away
their stash.
"Can you believe it -- holy irony, eh?" Hilary Black said after the
bust.
Black said Rock had requested a meeting with members of the B.C
Compassion Club Society to discuss the operation's distribution of
marijuana to those in medical need.
Black said that, while she was talking with Rock and his assistant
David Herferd, she received a phone call informing her that one of the
club's contracted production sites was being raided by police.
She says 1,000 plants seized by police would have supplied the club's
1,400 members with low- cost, high-quality medicinal cannabis.
Black noted the bust followed close on the heels of Rock's
announcement that Ottawa will begin clinical trials of medicinal
marijuana.
"It seems like two hands of the government doing different things,"
she said.
The club is supplied by 12 growers who sign a cultivation contract.
The growers cannot sell to anyone else and agree to visits from the
club's inspectors who make sure the pot is organically grown.
The pot raid was at the research farm of Dr. Paul Hornby. Hornby, a
herbal medicine researcher, has a licence from Health Canada to
possess and produce cannabis.
The address on his licence was that of his lab, but the greenhouse is
located on his research farm.
Hornby is upset at the treatment he received from the RCMP.
"They held my five-year-old son and 65-year-old mother-in-law at
gunpoint," he said.
Two volunteer gardeners along with Hornby were arrested and likely
face drug charges.
"It's such a heartbreak," said Black. "It's the only place we can get
herb that's not criminally priced."
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Give us your comments by phone at (604) 605-2029, e-mail at
provletters@pacpress.southam.ca or fax at (604) 605-2099. Be sure to
spell your first and last names and give your home town.
Newshawk: creator@mapinc.org
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2001 The Province
Contact: provedpg@pacpress.southam.ca
Website: The Province
Pubdate: Thursday 12 April 2001
Author: John Colebourn, The Province
Cited: The BC Compassion Club Society | Providing medical cannabis and natural therapies to those in need
At the very moment the federal health minister was discussing
medicinal marijuana with B.C.'s "compassion clubs," police were
raiding the club's supply.
About 1,000 marijuana plants were chopped down and hauled away from
the club's grow operation at a greenhouse in Richmond on Tuesday --
the same day the group met with Health Minister Allan Rock to discuss
the distribution of medical marijuana.
The club's founder thinks Rock deliberately had the Mounties haul away
their stash.
"Can you believe it -- holy irony, eh?" Hilary Black said after the
bust.
Black said Rock had requested a meeting with members of the B.C
Compassion Club Society to discuss the operation's distribution of
marijuana to those in medical need.
Black said that, while she was talking with Rock and his assistant
David Herferd, she received a phone call informing her that one of the
club's contracted production sites was being raided by police.
She says 1,000 plants seized by police would have supplied the club's
1,400 members with low- cost, high-quality medicinal cannabis.
Black noted the bust followed close on the heels of Rock's
announcement that Ottawa will begin clinical trials of medicinal
marijuana.
"It seems like two hands of the government doing different things,"
she said.
The club is supplied by 12 growers who sign a cultivation contract.
The growers cannot sell to anyone else and agree to visits from the
club's inspectors who make sure the pot is organically grown.
The pot raid was at the research farm of Dr. Paul Hornby. Hornby, a
herbal medicine researcher, has a licence from Health Canada to
possess and produce cannabis.
The address on his licence was that of his lab, but the greenhouse is
located on his research farm.
Hornby is upset at the treatment he received from the RCMP.
"They held my five-year-old son and 65-year-old mother-in-law at
gunpoint," he said.
Two volunteer gardeners along with Hornby were arrested and likely
face drug charges.
"It's such a heartbreak," said Black. "It's the only place we can get
herb that's not criminally priced."
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Give us your comments by phone at (604) 605-2029, e-mail at
provletters@pacpress.southam.ca or fax at (604) 605-2099. Be sure to
spell your first and last names and give your home town.
Newshawk: creator@mapinc.org
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2001 The Province
Contact: provedpg@pacpress.southam.ca
Website: The Province
Pubdate: Thursday 12 April 2001
Author: John Colebourn, The Province
Cited: The BC Compassion Club Society | Providing medical cannabis and natural therapies to those in need
