A Halifax cannabis shop has been locked out by its landlord, but owner Shirley Martineau vows to reopen Auntie’s Health and Wellness in a new location.
“I’m shocked,” Martineau said Friday. “They accepted the rent.”
Martineau said she hasn’t been back to the downtown shop, which sold cannabis to anyone over the age of 19 without requiring a medical presciption, since she was arrested following a police raid late last month.
A notice posted to the front door Friday on behalf of landlord NewGen Halifax Properties GP said Auntie’s staff are barred from entering the storefront, can’t keep anything inside and face arrest if they violate the ban.
“I didn’t expect it to go this wild,” said Martineau.
“All I attempted to do was help patients that needed my help without a licence.”
It remains illegal to possess or sell pot in Canada and federal regulations prohibit the sale of medical marijuana through a retail storefront.
Martineau said she decided to sell marijuana when people who couldn’t get a medical prescription came to her. It was her plan to use profits from recreational users to offer products to medicinal users for free.
She said Auntie’s Health and Wellness, which registered as a business with the province in June, will set up shop somewhere new.
“I’ve got people to help. I don’t know where, or how,” she said, adding that her phone and computer have been seized by police.
Police had said they wouldn’t investigate Martineau’s business unless they received a complaint.
Read the full story by Jon Tattrie and Paul Palmeter on cbc.ca.