Head Shop Busted for Marijuana Sales
Head Shop Busted for Marijuana Sales 7/21/06
The Holy Smoke Culture Shop and Psyche-Deli in Nelson, British Columbia, was busted Saturday night and one of the owners, Paul DeFelice, was jailed on marijuana and psilocybin distribution charges. The landmark head shop at the far end of downtown Nelson's Baker Street has been selling marijuana to adult customers for at least a year.
As a Nelson resident for much of the past four years, this writer has been aware of the services and products offered at Holy Smoke, but has not published articles about them at their request. The pot sales there have been an open secret, and Nelson police have told DRCNet informally they would rather see it sold there than on the streets and credited Holy Smoke with reducing street level marijuana dealing.
But it was Nelson City Police who raided Holy Smoke on Saturday, and DeFelice told the Nelson Daily News he was not surprised. Since the change in federal government, he said, police have been given marching orders to make "small-time" busts. "It's pretty screwed priorities when there's murders and violence and robberies, home invasions that they make the priority in something where there's no victim and no complainants," said DeFelice.
Still, the bust was "all good," DeFelice said. "The idea is in the long run we want to be left alone because we're not hurting anybody but at the same time, if they want to come after us, plenty of arguments that we want to make in court, plenty of answers to legal questions that I want to hear. I want to hold the powers that be to account," he said. "I want to educate the public, and if they're going to shine a spotlight on me and give me a platform, I'll definitely use it."
Police are promising more arrests, but the Holy Smoke bust is already a symbolic blow to the Nelson area's burgeoning marijuana community and economy. The area and the nearby Slocan Valley are notorious pot-growing zones, and Holy Smoke was purveying local products. While hard numbers are hard to come by, one indication of the size of the local industry is the four marijuana grow equipment shops in Nelson. The Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area has two.
Article from Drug War Chronicle
Canada: Nelson, British Columbia, Head Shop Busted for Marijuana Sales
Contact: StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network, P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 293-8340 (voice), (202) 293-8344 (fax), e-mail drcnet@drcnet.org
Other Articles of similair interest:
Canada: Vancouver Police to Stop Arresting Peaceable Drug Users
The Holy Smoke Culture Shop and Psyche-Deli in Nelson, British Columbia, was busted Saturday night and one of the owners, Paul DeFelice, was jailed on marijuana and psilocybin distribution charges. The landmark head shop at the far end of downtown Nelson's Baker Street has been selling marijuana to adult customers for at least a year.
As a Nelson resident for much of the past four years, this writer has been aware of the services and products offered at Holy Smoke, but has not published articles about them at their request. The pot sales there have been an open secret, and Nelson police have told DRCNet informally they would rather see it sold there than on the streets and credited Holy Smoke with reducing street level marijuana dealing.
But it was Nelson City Police who raided Holy Smoke on Saturday, and DeFelice told the Nelson Daily News he was not surprised. Since the change in federal government, he said, police have been given marching orders to make "small-time" busts. "It's pretty screwed priorities when there's murders and violence and robberies, home invasions that they make the priority in something where there's no victim and no complainants," said DeFelice.
Still, the bust was "all good," DeFelice said. "The idea is in the long run we want to be left alone because we're not hurting anybody but at the same time, if they want to come after us, plenty of arguments that we want to make in court, plenty of answers to legal questions that I want to hear. I want to hold the powers that be to account," he said. "I want to educate the public, and if they're going to shine a spotlight on me and give me a platform, I'll definitely use it."
Police are promising more arrests, but the Holy Smoke bust is already a symbolic blow to the Nelson area's burgeoning marijuana community and economy. The area and the nearby Slocan Valley are notorious pot-growing zones, and Holy Smoke was purveying local products. While hard numbers are hard to come by, one indication of the size of the local industry is the four marijuana grow equipment shops in Nelson. The Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area has two.
Article from Drug War Chronicle
Canada: Nelson, British Columbia, Head Shop Busted for Marijuana Sales
Contact: StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network, P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 293-8340 (voice), (202) 293-8344 (fax), e-mail drcnet@drcnet.org
Other Articles of similair interest:
Canada: Vancouver Police to Stop Arresting Peaceable Drug Users
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