Saskatoon police chief Clive Weighill said, despite public outcry, he made the right choice to shut down a compassion club in the city earlier this fall.
Weighill said the business was targeted for very openly selling cannabis to medical patients, a practice that couldn’t be ignored by Saskatoon police.
“When you have an organization in the city here that is allegedly buying marijuana illegally, selling marijuana illegally, profiting from that sale, I think the time has to come when we have to take the appropriate action under the laws of Canada,” Weighill said.
The chief said the public’s perception of cannabis issues has been skewed by the election of Justin Trudeau, who promised the plant would be legalized after winning the federal election.
“I think people had the idea it was going to be a free-for-all,” Weighill said. “I don’t think they were really listening to what the future prime minister was saying. He was saying they were going to legalize it, but there would certainly be a regulatory framework around the sale of marijuana.”
Saskatoon Mayor Don Atchison has also been unapologetic about the raids, confronted in this video by Saskatchewan Compassion Club owner Mark Hauk about why his dispensary was raided.