Video: Woman caught in the act stealing tips from cannabis store

A woman shopping at a cannabis store in Canada rose to fame on Facebook after she was caught on camera stealing hundreds of dollars worth of tips from the tip jar. Cannabis usually evokes the spirit of giving in most people, but that’s not the case with petty thieves like the one recently caught.

Mariana Wolff, owner of Cannabis Cottage in Penticton, British Columbia Canada, is fed up with brazen thieves, including the last one after her budtender’s hard-earned tip. Wolff caught the crime on camera and shared footage of the incident on Facebook on Tuesday 3 January.

Castanet News reports that the woman grabbed the jar, stuffed it into her coat and held it there. In the video, it looks like the store clerk is trying to reason with the woman that she should return it. Since Cannabis Cottage – like many other cannabis stores in Canada – constantly locks up most of its inventory, it has not typically been the target of crime since it opened in 2019. Comments for the video on YouTube have been disabled.

Penticton Valley News reports that Wolff is frustrated with the way budtenders are being treated, culminating in this latest incident. Crimes have worsened and become bolder in recent years.

“Unfortunately, that’s no surprise,” Wolff told Black Press. “It’s been noticeably more common in the city in recent years.”

Wolff chose not to report the incident to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), instead posting it to Facebook so the local community could do the rest. That alone should be punishment enough.

“It’s such a petty theft and [the police] already have so many that they are already dealing with,” said Wolff. “It would just be one more thing on her plate, so it’s easier for me to just top up the tip jar and move on.”

Wolff said her business gave the woman an opportunity to come out and return the money to salvage her reputation, but the woman apparently declined. She even offered a Safeway gift card if the woman needed something to eat.

The tip jar was basically the only item that could be stolen as everything is locked. “The only thing that actually got stolen was… it’s frustrating,” she added. “The girl was asked to return it after being caught in the moment and decided against it. That was so irritating.”

Cash only environments lead to theft

South of the border, the cash-only U.S. cannabis industries often breed their own form of crime — coast-to-coast. But typically, thieves are after large amounts of cash and inventory, and typically not the tip jar.

Crime is commonplace in dispensaries in cities like Oakland, California, or at least in the chaos of the pandemic years. CRAFT (Citizens Research Alliance for Therapeutics) cannabis in Oakland, California was robbed at gunpoint and approximately $100,000 worth of product was stolen.

Crime is also a problem on the east coast. According to a report in the Portland Press Herald, police have linked a series of break-ins at New England dispensaries to a trio of suspects in Massachusetts. Police officials say a New Bedford, Massachusetts man and two Boston brothers are suspects in a string of break-ins into licensed cannabis businesses dating back to 2020.

Budtenders often rely on tips to make ends meet, so they’re the last person you want to steal from.