Marijuana club butts heads in Montreal

The Montreal borough of Lachine says it's doing everything in its power to discourage a medical marijuana supplier from operating in the area.

Sinceit began operating earlier this year,theCulture 420 "compassion club" has been causing problems for people living in the area, says Coun.Jane Cowell-Poitras.

"We're getting complaints and we're speaking to people on almost a daily basis," she said in an interview CBC Radio.

The borough has been working with the City of Montreal's legal department to look at ways of shutting down the club, Cowell-Poitras said.

"I think, for all of us, if it was purely on the basis of compassion and legal medical marijuana, none of us would have a problem with this. But it seems to me that very healthy-looking young people are bouncing in and out of that place on a regular basis and they certainly don't look to me like they have any medical problems."

Club ondefensive

"I wasn't aware that I lived in a city where our city councillors also claimed the ability to judge medical requirements by a simple glance," said club co-founder Gary Webber.

Webber said allclients of the club have a medical requirement and meetstandards set by Health Canada and the Supreme Courtto use medical marijuana.

However, he acknowledged that unexpectedly high demand created a parking problem at the club's 15th Avenue location.

Webber said the club has hired parking attendants to make sureclients use the municipal parking lot, rather than parking in front of neighbouring driveways. The club plans to move to a larger location in Lachine in a few weeks, he added.

Not everyone in the neighbourhood opposes the club, he said.

"Our relationship is mixed because there are many members of the community, the borough, the police who are very happy that we are here, who believe that we're doing a really good service."

Borough fights back

"We've been certainly doing absolutely everything within in our power to make life difficult for this particular organization, " said Cowell-Poitras.

Montreal's other compassion club operates in the borough of Plateau Mont-Royal.

Citypolice raided that club in 2000. Butwhen the case went to trial, a judge ruled it was unconstitutional to deny peoplean opportunity to get marijuana after saying they can use the drugfor medical reasons.

Given the outcome of that case, Cowell-Poitras said,the borough wants to be cautious in taking any legal action.

In the meantime, the borough has sent Culture 420a registered letter warning that it isoperating illegally since it doesn't havea business permit.

TheLachine club was the focus of public attention in March after Webber was the victim of a home invasion. Thievestook only his laptop computer and the keys to the club.