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VCBC’s Response to CSU Enforced Eviction

At the end of the month the VCBC is facing one of our greatest obstacles yet.  The CSU, the community safety unit, is pressuring our landlord with threats of jail or fines if he resigns our lease in the location we have occupied peacefully for 20 years. 

The province of BC, or more specifically Mike Farnworth and the Ministry of Public Safety, is using the CSU to enforce disciplinary actions against us for our non-compliance with the Cannabis Act.  The CSU is coming down on us for selling unlicensed and “non-medical” cannabis.  Our lawyers at JFK Law Corporation, who are working on our exemption application to Health Canada, have drafted the below letter to the CSU.  The letter outlines the fact that we are not selling “non-medical” cannabis.  The VCBC serves medical patients with proof of their chronic medical condition.  Therefore, we argue, the CSU does not have the authority to act against us and that medical cannabis falls under the jurisdiction of the federal government. 

This letter and appeal to the CSU and the lawyers of our landlord are our first step in working to save our space at 826 Johnson St.  It is our hope that this will demonstrate a reasonable attempt on the behalf of the landlord to request us to stop selling cannabis which is all the CSU has asked of him.

Aside from arguing the minutia of jurisdiction, we are also working behind the scenes to gather support from ministers of the BC Cabinet for our large exemption application. To simplify our exemption application into a digestible text, we have compiled an executive summary that is 2 pages long and is accompanied with an appendix that contains 30 letters of support from professionals and public officials. 

If you would like to read the Executive Summary of our case for a Federal exemption from the Cannabis Act, you can click here:

You can read the 30 pages appendix with letters of support from MLAs, the City of Victoria, General Practitioners, as well as an economic analysis, here:

In all the turbulence, we want to thank you very much for your support for the VCBC. We do this work for the patients who need us and because we know it is the right and just thing to do.  At this time we are facing multiple and overlapping obstacles.  If you want to stay up to date on what is going on with the VCBC, you can keep up to date here on the Cannabis Digest, follow our Facebook Page or shoot us an email to hellovcbc@gmail.com.

As you know we are facing an eviction and must move at the end of the month. We will keep you updated when we are able to release more information about where we are moving and our plans for next steps for the coming weeks. 

We are facing many legal obstacles on multiple fronts but we are doing everything in our power to continue the fight for patients’ rights to high quality and low cost cannabis medicine.  
 
If you are able to donate funds to our legal battle, money can be dropped off in the store, sent by e-transfer to savethevcbc@gmail.com or by cheque to JFK Law Corporation c/o VCBC.   
 
Thank you for your continued support. 
 
The VCBC Team