Cannabis Club Director Wants Answers About Officer

It was a small item in Friday's Mercury, but an item nonetheless. Const. Chris Panylo, a six-year veteran of the Guelph Police Service was arrested and charged Thursday with theft under $5,000 and breach of trust. He was suspended with pay on July 22nd, and will appear in court on these charges at the end of October. 

The alleged theft took place following a drug case investigated by the police, so it's perhaps unsurprising that someone has quickly stepped forward to call Panylo's credibility on account. Below is a press release from Medical Cannabis Centre of Guelph director Rade Kovacevic, whose downtown business was raided last year by police. 

The Medical Cannabis Centre of Guelph Inc. (MCCG) is very concerned about the allegations that have been reported in the local media about a Guelph Police Constable being charged with theft and breach of trust. Const. Chris Panylo, a six-year veteran of the service, was charged after an investigation into an alleged theft of materials obtained by city police in a drug case.

"I am extremely troubled that there are allegations that a key police constable has committed criminal acts," said Rade Kovacevic, director of the MCCG. "Const. Panylo was very much involved in the allegations against three of my employees, and the allegations against Const. Panylo further raise questions about his credibility in regards to our case."

Three employees of the MCCG were arrested in May of 2010, following search warrants that Const. Panylo was an integral part of compiling surveillance information for. The charges are still before the courts and all three have plead not guilty.

"The MCCG is deeply concerned that over 300 patients have lost their access to medical cannabis that their physician has authorized based largely on information provided in writing by Const. Panylo, who's credibility is now in question due to his arrest and the accompanying allegations that have been made," Mr. Kovacevic explained. "This directly brings to question the legitimacy of their choice to arrest MCCG employees."

The Medical Cannabis Centre of Guelph Inc. (MCCG) was established in 2006. The MCCG is a medical cannabis resource centre and provides both support and information regarding the medicinal use of cannabis. The MCCG is a proud member of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Guelph Business Association, Ontario Chamber of Commerce, and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

Support Grows for the Cannabis Club

Yesterday, a small but hearty group of supporters gathered in front of Guelph City Hall to rally support and generate awareness about the closure of the Medicinal Cannabis Club of Guelph last week.

When I arrived, a man named Julian said that they were waiting to get started until the arrival of a few more people. "The issue isn't to legalize marijuana," he says, adding that his own parents were cancer patients. "The issue is that sick people can't get their medicine [...] They're attacking sick people that have no other recourse."

Here's the complete recording of Julian's comments to the crowd:



The Protest against the raid on the MCCG will take place this Saturday, May 15th from 2 pm - 3:30 pm in St. George's Square. The Facebook event notice can be found here.

Press Release from the MCCG:

On Thursday, May 6, 2010 the Guelph Police Service (GPS) raided the Medical Cannabis Club of Guelph Inc. (MCCG).

330 patients are now without their medication. These include patients suffering from Cancer,HIV/AIDS, Hep C, MS, Spinal Cord Injury, among others. The actions by the Guelph Police show their lack of concern for the medical welfare of the citizens of Guelph. The POLICE ARE NOT DOCTORS and should not be interrupting patients’ treatment.

The MCCG is open and operating. We are currently unable to dispense medication to our patients, but are continuing our services of helping patients complete Health Canada MMAR applications, providing information on how to cultivate, ingest, and cook cannabis, sales of delivery mechanisms, and answering general inquiries about medical cannabis.

The MCCG was originally founded in order to fill the gap in the City of Guelph, between those who are chronically ill and desperately in need of adequate medicine, and the lack of a supply. The MCCG provides people with a choice of a variety of strains of cannabis allowing patients to select the strain of cannabis which best alleviate their symptoms.

The MCCG is a lawful corporation, with strict standards in place. The MCCG reports all sales to Revenue Canada, and has paid all owing income tax, CPP, and EI deductions.

The MCCG’s mission is to provide safe, clean, and reliable access to cannabis for disabled and chronically ill people in a supportive environment. We also help members achieve selfsustainability and independence by providing cannabis cuttings.

The MCCG would like to make two further points clear. The $10 000 seized was taken from Mr. Kovacevic’s house, and was for his wedding this summer. It is not related to the MCCG. While in custody, Mr. Kovacevic’s medical condition worsened making him unable to walk. Mr. Kovacevic was told by officers that if he couldn’t walk he would have to go to jail for the weekend as there were no accessible services or elevators available to get him to bail court. This is a violation of Mr. Kovacevic’s human rights, is discrimination on the basis of disability, and will be strongly litigated.

The Medical Cannabis Club of Guelph Inc. (MCCG) was established in 2006. The MCCG is a proud member of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce, Ontario Chamber of Commerce, and the Downtown Guelph Business Association.

Scratching my Head Over Cannabis Club Bust

It came as big news last week when the Guelph Police raided the Medical Cannabis Club of Guelph, several private residences and arrested four people. But the bigger news: There's a Medical Cannabis Club of Guelph?

I guess having never needed their services, I've never had to seek them out, but they are (or perhaps were) right there on Baker Street, downtown, and been operating since 2006. They have an online presence, and operated openly and honestly servicing residents looking for a better quality cannabis than the government suppliers provide. Their website says that they're members of Guelph Chamber of Commerce, Ontario Chamber of Commerce, and the Downtown Guelph Business Association, which are hardly your average hippie, tree-hugging organizations.

So what happened? Because from the look of things, it seems the Medical Cannabis Club of Guelph was shut down for doing the very thing it was very candidly saying that it was doing. This is from the Guelph Police Media Room last Friday:

On May 6th, 2010 at 3:25pm, members of the Guelph Police Drug, Intelligence Unit, Coordinated Enforcement Team and Uniform Division executed Controlled Drugs and Substances Act search warrants at the Medical Cannabis Club of Guelph 62 Baker Street and 5 other addresses on Dublin Street, London Road, Arrow Road and Quebec Street Guelph. As a result four people were arrested for trafficking, possessing a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking and production of a controlled substance.

“Our investigation has revealed that The Medical Cannabis Club of Guelph has illegally sold marihuana and hashish” commented Sgt Doug Pflug-Guelph Police Media spokesperson. “Health Canada sets clear guidelines and regulations for the use of medically sanctioned marihuana use and these individuals operated outside those guidelines and regulations.”

I decided to go to the Health Canada website to look up the guidelines and regulations that the press release spoke of. Now you can apply through Health Canada to get a permit to possess marijuana, but you can only get that pot under certain conditions. From the Health Canada website:

Holders of an authorization to possess can currently obtain marihuana for medical purposes from three possible sources:

• They can apply for access to purchase dried marihuana from Health Canada;
• They can grow their own supply; or
• They can designate someone else to grow it for them.

So yeah, I guess the MCCoG was in violation, but again I'm curious, what took police so long? According to an initial post on the Guelph Mercury website, "Last year, city police revealed they were investigating the organization after receiving inquiries about its operations from local doctors who had been approached by patients to sign prescription forms for use at the club."

Okay. I'm still confused. Here's from another Guelph Mercury article:

Court heard Friday, when all four accused made a bail appearance, that in April, Guelph Police began investigating alleged illegal sales of controlled substances out of the cannabis club on Baker Street. The club, which opened more than three years ago, dispenses medical marijuana and has grown to about 240 members.

At least three undercover officers acquired licences from the club, which doesn’t have the authorization to issue a licence to possess marijuana, said federal Crown attorney David Doney. With the licences, they were able to purchase marijuana and hashish on several occasions from the club staff, he said.

Guelph Police spokesperson Sergeant Doug Pflug said only one of the accused had a Health Canada licence to possess or grow 30 marijuana plants. The other three individuals didn’t have licences and [Rade] Kovacevic was still in the application process with Health Canada.

So while there is a decent legal argument that can be made that the MCCoG were in violation of the law, but the fact that they were recognized as lawful, tax-paying business for so long shows that there's this huge grey area so far as this country's drug laws are concerned. Every April 20th, hundreds of University of Guelph students blaze up on Johnston Green and there's never any sign of riot cops, and I can't imagine that the Police Service don't know about what happens on the grass one day every April.

So what's going on? Why the sliding scale in the treatment of the possession of marijuana? Why the sudden push on to clamp down on the Cannabis Club? Not to sound cynical, but between this and another recent major drug bust, one might think that this is an election year. Having spent the afternoon with this issue, I'm still left with as many questions as answers...

There's supposed to be a rally tomorrow in front of Guelph City Hall and another protest this Saturday afternoon in St. George's Square. The accused will appear in court again on May 31st.