A day after six illegal marijuana dispensaries opened with a big splash in the city, Montreal police have moved in.
Raids are underway, Constable Benoit Boisselle told the Montreal Gazette at supper hour on Friday, adding that Montreal police will comment further during the evening.
Tensions ran high at the illegal marijuana dispensary on Mont-Royal Ave. earlier in the day, as rumours of an imminent police raid circulated. A police source confirmed to the Montreal Gazette Friday that police would descend on the Mont-Royal Ave. dispensary in the afternoon.
Sources told the Gazette that undercover officers began a surveillance operation on the storefront shop as of Thursday night — just hours after its highly publicized opening.
The dispensary began selling a variety of pot strains to customers that afternoon during the rollout of six Cannabis Culture dispensaries across the city. One source confirmed that police had investigated and would take action.
“I heard a rumour and headed straight to the dispensary,” Jodie Emery, who co-owns the Cannabis Culture brand, told the Montreal Gazette Friday afternoon. “But there’s no police here now, just a long lineup of people in the cold. Things are really tense right now.”
At the time, Emery said it was possible news of the raid might be a false alarm. But as a precaution, she was staying outside of the store and her husband and business partner Marc served customers.
“Marc is ready to be arrested and one of us has to stay out of jail and get the message out there,” said Emery.
Shortly before 6 p.m., Jodie Emery posted a video on Twitter of her husband being arrested at the Mont-Royal location. About the same time, police stood in front of the Cannabis Culture on St-Laurent Blvd. after raiding it.
“Quebec is one of two provinces I have not been arrested in,” Marc Emery had told reporters Thursday. “I’ve been locked up in eight provinces … so, you know, there’s always room for number nine. I’ve been arrested 28 times in Canada for marijuana and I’ve seen 34 prisons and jails in all that time. And yet even after 26 years of this kind of civil disobedience the law still exists.”
The five other Cannabis Culture stores closed temporarily Friday after the raid rumours first surfaced, Jodie Emery said.
Marc Emery, Canada’s self-proclaimed “Prince of pot,” was on hand for the dispensary’s opening Thursday and acknowledged that the business was illegal. He said that it’s only by breaking an “unjust law” that Canadians will force the government to legalize marijuana.
Long lines formed outside the shop Thursday as he gave an impassioned speech about Canada’s drug law and handed out free samples of marijuana. He framed the opening of his dispensaries as a massive act of civil disobedience.
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After the Emerys spoke to media Thursday, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre said there would be “zero tolerance” for the illegal storefronts. Police have raided Cannabis Culture locations in Toronto, Hamilton and Port Coquitlam, B.C. this year but many reopened within days.
Montreal police also confirmed Thursday they had opened an investigation into the dispensaries.
The Liberal government has appointed a task force to study how it will fulfil Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s promise to legalize marijuana. But during a press conference in Montreal Friday, Trudeau warned that until new legislation is passed the laws prohibiting the sale of marijuana stand.
People continued flocking to the dispensary late Friday afternoon, forming a line that went out the door and around the block. An employee at a nearby bar told the Montreal Gazette the arrival of a Cannabis Culture shop has created a buzz in the Rosemont — La Petite-Patrie neighbourhood.
However, the employee said, older patrons were less enthused than younger ones about the idea of a pot business sprouting up in the Plateau.
Jodie Emery said the big turnout is an indication pot stores should be allowed to operate.
“If thousands of people are braving minus 30 degree weather to line up for hours to access cannabis in this way, it should be a very strong argument that these businesses are legitimate, are popular, are successful and should be allowed to operate.”
