Marijuana club volunteers won't face charges

A positive development on a story I blogged about in early April. Charges against eight volunteer workers at the CALM marijuana compassion club, based on Queen Street West, were dropped this morning. However Neev Tapiero, the owner of the compassion club, still faces ludicrious trafficking charges. But Tapiero believes that the crown's case is weak as the charges against the volunteers were dropped and therefore feels confident. CALM, which provides medical marijuana to those with chronic diseases, including HIV, was raided on March 31st by Metropolitan Toronto Police. Lawyer Ron Marzel said he was "appalled" by the police raid and subsequent arrests, and that the police were well aware that CALM provides marijuana for medical purposes only::

This is a big win for the cause. It’s also the right thing to do. If the government takes issue with a compassion club they should have that fight with Neev. Organizations like this have existed for a long time. It’s not a surprise to the police force that these organizations exist. This is a totally inappropriate response.

Amy Brown suffers from chronic pain and said the arrest prevented her from travelling, but was jubilant that the charges were dropped:

I had this perma-grin, I couldn’t get off my face. It’s a big day. We knew what we were doing wasn’t wrong.

Despite the fact that CALM is currently lobbying for clearance from Health Canada to sell medical marijuana, CALM has never been raided or faced any trouble from authorities since it was established in 1996. Tapiero added that 10% of CALM's 3,000 registered members have federal approval or issued cards allowing them to possess marijuana, while the remainder of the members have written approval from their doctors, chiropractors and naturpaths.