VCBC fined $6.5 million

Canada’s oldest compassion club, the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club, is struggling to survive thanks to aggressive provincial enforcement. The nonprofit was searched in November 2109 and again in July 2020. In late January, the VCBC received a letter from the CSU and a whopping $6.5 million fine. Earlier this week, they went public with the fines and their plan to fight them, prompting further enforcement action. The province is taking a letter-of-the-law approach and delivering some hard hits, but given the situation, many feel this is unnecessary.

The fines

There have been many attempts to shut down the VCBC over the years. Including this youngest, they have been mugged eight times. In November 2019 and July 2020, the Community Safety Unit raided the nonprofit pharmacy and confiscated all products. Since then, the workforce and its members have been eagerly awaiting the consequences. Fines were calculated based on the total retail value of all confiscated products. However, these numbers are based on recreational retail value, not what it costs to a medical patient. This is significant as the VCBC is a non-profit organization and charges very little to produce. The persons designated as responsible persons are elected by their members at the annual general meeting. They represent the interests of the 8,500 medical patients and are free of charge for their work.

Regardless, these last two raids have resulted in a $3,235,465.74 penalty for the club. In addition, its founder and current CEO, Ted Smith, was personally fined $3,235,465.74.

Ted Smith personally fined $3.5 million

Club founder Ted Smith leads the organization and has been fighting for patients’ rights since day one. He started in the back of the van and the police have been bugging him ever since. According to Section 38 (12) of the Cannabis Licensing and Control Act, he must pay an additional fine. “If a company is subject to a fine imposed under this section in relation to a violation of this law or the regulations or failure to comply with any condition, an officer, director or representative of the company who authorizes, authorizes or even has the consent with the violation or omission is punishable.”

Other Enforcement Actions

Unfortunately, the hits just keep coming. Once they received the fines, the VCBC went to work on their legal defense. A Gofundme page was created to raise $50,000 for legal fees and it immediately started generating donations. After publicly announcing that they had received the fines and planning to fight them, the VCBC had their website and Gofundme page shut down.

Legally, the province did not have to do this.

Many hoped that the CSU would not enforce penalties and leave the club alone. Finally, provincial jurisdiction extends to recreational cannabis, but medically it is regulated by the federal government. In addition, the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club has submitted an application for a Therapeutic Use Use which is currently being processed by the Crown. This is a fact the province is aware of, as Secretary of Public Safety and Attorney General Mike Farnworth enclosed a letter supporting the exception.

Click here to download Mike Farnworth’s letter supporting the VCBC Medical Exemption.

According to a letter enclosed with the fines, the CSU did not recognize the VCBC as a medical organization; This is because they are not licensed by Health Canada and no doctors are present. This rough approach would be understandable if the products being sold were pharmaceuticals, but the fact remains cannabis; It is a non-lethal plant that is far less dangerous than most of the products we use on a daily basis. There are medical patients who depend on cannabis because it’s the only thing that helps their condition. Its therapeutic utility cannot be denied.

Why can’t the VCBC switch to the legal market?

If there are so many legal pharmacies, why is this gray market operation still open? The simple answer is because they have to be. A lot of the products they make and sell aren’t found anywhere in the medical system, such as high-dose edibles and cannabis suppositories. This is crucial for people with cancer and other acute illnesses; These products allow them to take their medicine and bypass digestive problems. People take cannabis suppositories to treat serious illnesses, nobody takes them to get high.

There are licensed medicinal cannabis clinics that offer some medicinal products, but their inventory is extremely limited. There are no licensed manufacturers supplying high-dose THC edibles or cannabis suppositories. Why? These products are not yet regulated by Health Canada. Without long-term human studies to support the regulations, Heath Canada is liable. No doctor would ever sign the prescription for these products because doing so could result in a medical malpractice lawsuit; Unless it’s in the med school curriculum, they can’t legally talk about it. Long-term human studies on these products have yet to be completed, and until then, it is illegal to manufacture and sell them.

Any organization that defies the regulation will lose its license to operate and therefore the VCBC cannot enter the legal market. If they were to comply with current regulations, they would have to disrupt the supply of safe, life-saving medicines to some of the sickest people they serve.

how to help

If you support the rights of medical patients and/or you don’t think this situation is right, please help. You have a voice and it’s more powerful than you think. Here’s how you can help.

• Pass it on – The province is actively trying to suppress the VCBC support network. By shutting down the VCBC website and the Gofund me page, they are limiting their ability to spread the word and gain public support. Please share this news to let the community know this is happening.
• If you can, please donate – The VCBC is raising funds to pay the legal fees for this fight. You’ll need to raise at least $50,000, and luckily there’s plenty of public support. By the looks of it, the VCBC has raised nearly $27,000.

Donations can be made by check payable to Jack Lloyd Law Corporation, e-transfers to [email protected] or drop off cash at 826 Johnson Street.

The Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club is a medical-only, non-profit compassion club that has been operating illegally for over 26 years. Each time the organization has been indicted, it has fought valiantly for the rights of its members, giving the Supreme Court primacy at the federal level. The province might object to leaving them alone, but instead they are doing their best to shut them down. For the small compassion club that could, the fight for its members’ rights is far from over.