Canadian police harassed representatives of the hemp business
Canada's new Attorney General has questioned the legality of the British Columbia Mounted Police's actions. Law enforcers forced local hemp outlets to cease operations under threat of criminal prosecution. Journalists turned to Jody Wilson-Reybold with a request to clarify the situation.
The Minister reaffirmed the intention of the new government to make every effort to legalize cannabis and promised to solve the problem during a meeting with the Minister of Public Security.
How did it all start?
The owners of 10 stores received written orders to stop selling cannabis within a week. Otherwise, employees of enterprises and their bosses would be arrested and charged with the sale of prohibited substances. The Nanaimo city police said that these outlets were violating the "federal laws of the country." The reaction of entrepreneurs was obvious, because they had been doing business honestly for a long time. According to the injured people, they became victims of the arbitrariness of law enforcement officers.
The manager of the Mid-Island Health and Wellness store reminds that in this case, not only businessmen, but also entrepreneurs who need cannabis suffer. They have an extreme need for the plant, so over time they will begin to get products illegally. After all, merchants will again take to the streets, who will sell low-quality cannabis without control from the state authorities. If official points sell cannabis only to adults, then criminals do not look at the age of consumers.
Similar stories happened on the Gold Coast and Vancouver, but they have a political basis, as the police staged raids in the run-up to the elections.
Legislation
To the letter of Canadian law, cannabis pharmacies are outlawed and the police cannot shut them down, as doing so would be unconstitutional and would result in numerous lawsuits. Lawyer Kirk Tuso believes that the best solution to the problem will be a meeting of representatives of all parties to the conflict and the improvement of legislation.
Entrepreneurs, against whom the British Columbia police have taken action, are already preparing lawsuits in court, where they will defend their interests. Also, the trial will be a kind of test for the new government, which is lobbying for the legalization of marijuana.