FRIDAY
$1.25
inc. H.S.T.
July 20, 2012
A division of
COMOX VALLEY RECORD
Vol. 27 No. 58
Your community. Your newspaper. www.comoxvalleyrecord.com
ABLES LES MISÉRABLES
CYMC tackles one of the most popular musicals ever. ■ B1
BREAKING NEWS
ERNIE YACUB (LEFT) and his lawyer, Kirk Tousaw, address the media Thursday morning outside the Courtenay courthouse following filing a Notice of Constitutional Question to throw out possession for the purposes of trafficking charges against Yacub. Robbie Thompson added to his medal total Thursday at the national Transplant Games in Calgary. The 14-year-old from the Comox Valley swam his way to a gold medal in 50-metre backstroke and a silver medal in 50-metre freestyle. Tuesday, he captured cycling gold medals in the five- and 20-km distances in the 12- to 14-year age group at the national Games. “It was a very enthralling experience,” Robbie said Wednesday from Calgary. ... Earlier story on ■ B12
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PHOTO BY ERIN HALUSCHAK
Courtenay man fighting trafficking charge Record Staff
Despite being well-informed that NICC was opening a dispensary, the RCMP never previously came to the house for any reason except once to inform the residents that they were investigating a crackhouse around the corner. Many NICC members who rely on cannabis for their critical and chronic illnesses were traumatized by the raid and their fear of the police has led them to seek other providers, often turning to street dealers for more expensive and poorer quality marijuana or, worse, suffering without medicine. “I welcome the opportunity to inform people that the law is broken. It’s wrong,” Yacub said Thursday. “People have a right to this medicine which does all kind
On behalf of the North Island Compassion Club, a press conference was held Thursday morning at the Courtenay courthouse to discuss medical marijuana. NICC, a B.C. non-profit society, has been providing cannabis marijuana in the Comox Valley for medicinal and therapeutic purposes for over 12 years. NICC openly operated a dispensary at Ernie Yacub’s rented home at 719 Sixth St. in Courtenay for over seven years with no police intervention until it was suddenly raided in February 2011. Yacub, a longtime resident of the Comox Valley who has never been in trouble with the law, has been charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking,
BRIAN
of amazing, wonderful things for people. It’s a plant. That’s all it is.” Yacub’s lawyer, Kirk Tousaw of Cobble Hill, has successfully litigated several Charter challenges to the validity of the federal government’s medical marijuana program. “It is outrageous that taxpayer dollars continue to be wasted investigating, arresting and prosecuting legitimate medical marijuana providers, particularly when the Health Canada scheme has repeatedly been found unconstitutional in the Courts,” Tousaw said. “On July 18 we filed a Notice of Constitutional Question and will ask the court to throw out the charges against Mr. Yacub and, again, rule that the federal government’s restrictive scheme
violates the Charter rights of the NICC membership.” Many people are under the illusion that possession of marijuana is legal in B.C., that medical use is supported by the government, and that compassion clubs are legal dispensaries. As it turns out, medical marijuana dispensaries like NICC have come under fire repeatedly in recently months. “We fully expect to demonstrate to the provincial court here in Courtenay that the system the federal government has set up be ineffective and continues to deny patients the ability to access this safe and effective natural health product,” Tousaw explained. Yacub will return to court Aug. 23 to fix a date for trial. — With a file from North Island Compassion Club
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