TUESDAY JANUARY 20, 2015
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OYSTER WHISPERER
LOCAL HIGH SCHOOLS BATTLE
After some tough competition elsewhere, it’s Ballenas vs Kwalikum on Friday night
Parksville man not allowed to say what The Dragons said
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MEDICAL MARIJUANA
City signs land deal Mayor says Wildflower put $20K deposit on city land CANDACE WU news@pqbnews.com
Parksville Mayor Marc Lefebvre says the city secured a $20,000 non-refundable deposit from Wildflower Marijuana, a Vancouver-based company looking to set up a medical marijuana facility in the industrial park. Lefebvre said the money will go towards the company securing a piece of city-owned land in the industrial park where Wildflower’s facility is slated to go — if it gets the green light from Health Canada and city council. The mayor said he’s “interested” to see how this all pans out. He said if Wildflower is able to set up a facility in Parksville, the company will create 50 to 70 “good-paying jobs,” giving the city an economic boost. Lefebvre said the company said it will pay normal rates for water and sewer and is expecting to spend $15 million on improvements. “I believe it’s an ideal location — it’s out of sight and out of mind,” said Lefebvre. “I want to sit down and look at the details.” Lefebvre said the city has also agreed to the sale price of the land at $870,000, which he says, is close to the market-appraised value. The size of the facility is undetermined. Wildflower Marijuana CEO William MacLean could not be reached for comment by press time Monday. Wildflower Marijuana is best known in this area for its recent attempt to set up a medical marijuana operation near the River’s Edge neighbourhood in Nanoose Bay, just over the municipal border from Parksville. River’s Edge residents organized quickly and loudly to oppose the project. See COUNCIL INPUT EXPECTED, page A7
AUREN RUVINSKY PHOTO
Phoenix Pain Management Society managing director Akil Pessoa mixing up some medicine in Parksville at its new branch in downtown Parksville.
SOCIETY SETS UP POT SHOP IN DOWNTOWN PARKSVILLE
Police say dispensary is illegal CANDACE WU AND AUREN RUVINSKY news@pqbnews.com and writer@pqbnews.com
A compassion club that nonchalantly opened its doors last week in downtown Parksville is coming under fire from Oceanside RCMP and the mayor who say the operation is “completely illegal.”
But Akil Pessoa says he’s here to stay. “We’re not going away,” vowed Pessoa, managing director of Phoenix Pain Management Society, a nonprofit that distributes medical marijuana by donation. “It doesn’t mean there won’t be knee-jerk reactions causing people to come in here in jackboots once in
a while to throw me out in the street, but we’ll just start again.” Oceanside RCMP Staff Sgt. Brian Hunter told The NEWS on Friday the society is “100 per cent illegal.” Hunter said dispensaries and compassion clubs who distribute marijuana, medical or otherwise, are trafficking an illegal substance. See NO LAWS, page A9
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