Cops quiet on details of medicinal pot bust

Source: Nanaimo Daily News

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Published: December 22, 2010

Nanaimo RCMP are still not releasing details on their raid last Friday of a medicinal marijuana operation in Cedar that had an expired licence from Health Canada.

But Const. Gary O'Brien said the RCMP were justified in carrying out the raid on the pot operation at David Hodgkinson's residence, and will release more details at a later date.

"We don't just target these types of operations without a good reason," O'Brien said Tuesday.

"I don't think that would be moral or in the spirit of the law."

Hodgkinson has been growing medicinal marijuana in his house for about a year under a licence to cultivate the controversial herb from Health Canada.

Hodgkinson was licensed to grow up to 49 pot plants, but he said his licence expired in August, despite the fact that he applied for its renewal eight weeks before its expiry date, as stipulated by Health Canada.

While not referring specifically to Hodgkinson's case, Health Canada claimed it has been backlogged with applications for new licences to grow medicinal pot and renewals of old licences that have slowed the application process.

Karl Anderson, executive director of the Canadian Safe Cannabis Society and a licensed medicinal marijuana grower, said a similar situation happened to him last year at his home in Kamloops.

"My licence was valid at the time, but the police raided my operation anyway," he said.

"I was never charged and my equipment was returned but much of it was damaged beyond repair. I find these cases to be utterly disgraceful."