The club sells products at higher doses and at a lower cost than what is available on the legal market, which means it can\u2019t apply to become licensed.<\/p>\n
Provincial authorities raided the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club on Tuesday, more than three years after the last raid on the unlicensed non-profit dispensary, which sells cannabis products to mostly low-income people with chronic illnesses.<\/p>\n
Club founder Ted Smith said officers with the province\u2019s Community Safety Unit arrived Tuesday morning shortly after the shop opened and began seizing products.<\/p>\n
Victoria police officers also attended \u201cto help ensure a safe working area,\u201d a statement from the department said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going through each room, every nook and cranny, and trying to find where any cannabis may be stored,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
He estimated that about $100,000 worth of products was seized.<\/p>\n
Just before noon, CSU officers carried garbage bags and black tote bins to a van outside the club. They exited the building to shouts of \u201cshame\u201d from about a dozen people outside protesting the raid. \u201cYou\u2019re taking our medicine,\u201d one woman yelled.<\/p>\n
The club sells products at higher doses and at a lower cost than what is available on the legal market, which means it can\u2019t apply to become licensed, because it violates Health Canada rules that govern maximum doses.<\/p>\n
The club provides access to cannabis products to people who are low-income, chronically ill, seniors, disabled and sometimes unhoused, said Jax Kittel, a former manager.<\/p>\n
Customers are \u201cfolks who are left in the margins from the medical industry and who are also neglected by the legal and recreational market, who sell products that are low dose and way too high in cost,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The club requires proof of a medical condition but not a prescription for cannabis, which is difficult to get, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re bridging the gap in the recreational system as well as the medical system to provide medicine to patients that need it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Many of the club\u2019s members suffer from cancer and complex PTSD, she said.<\/p>\n
In a statement sent to the Times Colonist on Tuesday, the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, which oversees the Community Safety Unit, confirmed it \u201cconducted enforcement\u201d at the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club, but would not comment on the specific action taken by the CSU.<\/p>\n
\u201cCSU investigators carry out compliance and enforcement activities against unlicensed cannabis retailers and producers across the province, under the authority of the Cannabis Control and Licensing Act,\u201d the ministry said. \u201cAll along, the aim has been to achieve voluntary compliance; however, we have been very clear that CSU will employ a progressive enforcement approach against those who continue to produce and sell illicit and unregulated cannabis products to the public and in communities across the province.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ministry said enforcement action is determined on a case-by-case basis. It said it prioritizes action in cases where there are concerns over public safety, links to organized crime, the integrity of the legal market and consideration of the province\u2019s commitment to reconciliation.<\/p>\n
Smith plans to reopen on Wednesday and said he is anticipating more raids in the future. \u201cWe are being threatened quite clearly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The club was fined $3.2 million in 2024 for selling cannabis without a licence. It challenged the fine, as well as Health Canada\u2019s medical marijuana rules, in court with a judicial review. A date has not been set for the hearing.<\/p>\n