TUESDAY APRIL 7, 2015
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MEDICAL MARIJUANA
Phoenix is raided
RCMP make an arrest at Parksville compassion club AUREN RUVINSKY writer@pqbnews.com
Phoenix Pain Management Society’s medical pot dispensary in downtown Parksville was raided by police Thursday afternoon. “They arrested Karl (Mitchell), Jackson the dog was taken, they took everything including the medications headed for Autism Calgary,” Phoenix managing director Akil Pessoa told The NEWS. The RCMP could not be reached for comment over the holiday weekend but said in a news release: “The Oceanside RCMP will be forwarding a charge of Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking against the (29-year-old) male. Considering the nature of the business, investigators located a quantity of marihuana products inside the store. Police seized dried marihuana, along with other marihuana derivatives, products and cash.” Mitchell was released from the Oceanside detachment before 8 p.m. with charges pending, Pessoa said, adding that Jackson the dog, “who’s become a bit of a celebrity,” was being well taken care of by the SPCA and would be released after the Easter long weekend. Upon release from police, Mitchell posted on Facebook: “Just a road bump on the way towards ending prohibition ... Stay strong everyone, the future can’t keep us out! They may have slowed me down for the time being, but soon as they realize how many people we help on the day-to-day I’ll be right back at it.” “RCMP officers love to bust dispensaries right before a long weekend,” said Amanda Orum, mid-Island riding organizer for Sensible B.C. See PHOENIX, page A6
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ANTICIPATION: Kids and parents waited eagerly at the starting line for the annual Foster Park Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday. The afternoon, which was hosted by the Friends of Foster Park with the support of Peter Zimmerman of Remax First Realty, the Parksville Newcomers and Parksville Newcomers Alumni clubs and neighbourly volunteers, also included face painting, balloon animals, cotton candy, raffles, hot dogs and music.
SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES HAVE THEM
No-smoking bylaw for Parksville? CANDACE WU
news@pqbnews.com
Parksville Mayor Marc Lefebvre says the city doesn’t need a smoking bylaw, though it’s one of the rare Vancouver Island communities lacking a local ban on tobacco.
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“My initial reaction is that I don’t think it’s a problem,” Lefebvre told The NEWS Wednesday afternoon, when asked if the city could benefit from a more stringent ban on smoking. “I have not been told ever, ever,
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ever that ‘Hey someone is smoking too much in here.’” But Island Health’s Dr. Paul Hasselback called Parksville “an anomaly” for its lack of local regulation around cigarette smoke. See PROVINCIAL LAWS, page A8
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