By Spencer Sterritt

Pot dispensary beside a Nanaimo daycare raided

Feb 14, 2017 | 3:28 PM

NANAIMO — After complaints from parents and social media fervor, Nanaimo RCMP raided a marijuana dispensary which was right beside a daycare.

Cst. Gary O’Brien with RCMP confirmed to NanaimoNewsNOW they took action on Monday, Feb. 13 after the store was open for three days. He said the fact the Leaf Labs shop was directly beside the Kidz Kompany daycare, in the 600 block of Terminal Ave. N. was a primary motivator.

“We heard numerous concerns from parents dropping their kids off, people in the community and also via social media and that was one of the mitigating factors.”

A 24-year-old man, allegedly the operator of the store, was arrested and charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking and will appear in Nanaimo Provincial court on July 10. 1.5 lbs. of marijuana was seized.

O’Brien said they had previously told the operator they were willing to resolve the developing situation informally, but when they were rebuffed the RCMP took action.

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Kidz Kompany owner and director Melissa Burke said parents dropping their kids off were concerned for many reasons, including the alleged smell of the shop and the crowd they imagined the store would attract.

“I know that these places draw some not-so-legitimate types of people and crime tends to go up,” she said. “There tends to be a lot of break-ins and stuff like that so there’s some security issues.”

Burke said she has no issue with marijuana itself, it was simply where Leaf Labs was. “Should we be allowing this to be open next to some of the most vulnerable people in our city, which is children age zero to five-years-old? Absolutely not.”

The possibility of losing clients and business loomed over Burke as the social media firestorm about Leaf Labs swirled. She said it would create issues for her and for parents, since daycare space is already at a premium.

The fact Leaf Labs didn’t have a license also chafed Burke, who had to get many licenses for her daycare centre.

“It’s unregulated, the City has no by-laws in place for it and (they) won’t issue them a business license since it’s an illegal activity.”

Leaf Labs is one of several marijuana dispensaries around Nanaimo.

O’Brien said they are aware of the other shops in town but had larger matters to attend to given the rise of fentanyl.

“We believe we’re getting a handle on where the drugs are coming from and distribution lines,” he said. “We’re nowhere near done, but now that we believe we’re making some headway we’ve redirected our resources.”

He said they’ve been upfront with various shops about the possibility of arrest and seizure. “They are illegal, they have no provisions under Health Canada and they have no provisions under the Controlled Drug and Substances Act to be issuing marijuana from that premise.”

Though the legal selling and buying of weed was a mainstay of the Federal Liberals’ election campaign and legalization is proposed, O’Brien said they don’t deal with proposals.

“We deal with the laws that are on the books and the laws we’re asked to enforce in our community. These people have no authority to be doing what they’re doing.”

-with files from Dominic Abassi

spencer.sterritt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit