Will city's new pot dispensary become an RCMP target
If Kamloops Mounties consider Carl Anderson a problem, it might well be he is a problem of their own making.
Who is Carl Anderson, you're asking? Depends on who you talk to. For some, he is no doubt a saviour, a supplier of high grade medical marijuana it appears many in our community need to help with various ailments. He helps them by selling them the medicine they need, at slightly less than street price.
Anderson is the man behind the Canadian Safe Cannabis Society, an organization he formed to supply residents with medical needs a safe, secure supply of high grade marijuana.
And Ray Ban outlet he also is the owner of Kamloops's only marijuana dispensary, a little North Shore shop more akin to a delicatessen than a pharmacy.
I got a rather inadvertent and unexpected look inside Anderson's store and offices last week. A friend of mine who was also there gave what proves to be an accurate description: "This place is like something out of Amsterdam."
In the centre of the room is a bakery shop display case, filled with racks of marijuana in see through containers bearing labels such as "Bubba Kush" and "Purple Kush." There is a menu board behind the counter advertising 14 strains at $175 Ray Ban outlet new york an ounce, as well as a variety of baked goods, including marijuana laced chocolate chip cookies.
On the wall next to the counter is an info sheet describing the kind of highs or physical experience each of the strains provides. Bubba Kush, for example, gives "an all body high."
Near a window is a tray of small marijuana clones, each about eight centimetres high, bright green and growing. On the wall nearby is a painted mural of Cheech and Chong. There are lounge chairs and paintings and hardwood floors.
In a room behind the counter is Anderson's lab, complete with gas chromatograph, which he uses to ensure the products he sells are pure, safe and free of pesticides or other contaminants.
And of course, he is able to measure the percentage of THC in his marijuana. Those in the store say the product is much, much better than what medical users can get through Health Canada's official supply chain.
There are also bars on the windows and a large, heavy safe, presumably used to store the product when the shop is closed.
Anderson's shop isn't open to the public. To get past the little waiting room immediately Ray Ban outlet store locations adjacent to the main doors, one needs Ray Ban outlet stores to have the required medical forms, including a letter or prescription from a doctor.
Anderson won't talk to me about his shop, which amazingly, has been open since March. It appears he doesn't like some of the news stories I've written about the launch of his compassion service and sees no value in discussing his plans with the media. One thing is clear, however he's growing a smoking new business.
Back to why the Mounties can blame themselves, at least in part, for Anderson's expansion into a full blown medical marijuana business.
In May 2009, the Kamloops RCMP executed search warrants at Anderson's home. At the time, the man was growing marijuana for his own use.
His doctor gave him a prescription for marijuana and Anderson went from living in constant pain to being almost pain free. He doesn't smoke the drug, he says, but mixes it in olive oil so he can ingest it orally.
Shortly after the raid, Anderson said police knew he was allowed by Health Canada to grow marijuana for his own needs. He said his permit even allows RCMP to come inspect when they want. All officers needed to do was knock at his door and he would have let them in.
Instead, drug Mounties came unannounced and seized all his plants and expensive equipment, leaving him without the substance he says Ray Ban outlet store locations is the only thing that keeps him healthy.
Anderson denied he violated any laws including the suggestion he had more plants than allowed. Anderson said there were only 49 mature plants growing, the number allowed by his permit. The other 80 or so seized by police were unrooted cuttings that would have formed the basis for his next crop, one third of which would have died before growing roots.
He was never charged.
Anderson said the raid forced him to seek marijuana on the street. It was then he decided that people who have a legitimate medical need for marijuana should not have to risk injury by buying drugs in back alleys.
The Canadian Safe Cannabis Society was born.
"I'm just doing what I think is right," he told me in our brief conversation Friday, adding he supplies marijuana only to those who have been approved by Health Canada.
Kamloops RCMP Supt. Yves Lacasse said Monday he can't comment on the May 2009 raid at Anderson's house as the matter is now the subject of a lawsuit.
Regarding Anderson's compassion club, Lacasse said nothing has changed. Canadian law does not allow for this kind of operation and if he is selling marijuana to anyone for any reason, he is breaking the law.
"Without proper licences, what he is doing is trafficking," said Lacasse, earlier this year. He conceded no one in the community is calling him to ask what he is going to do about Anderson's club. Except for the media.