I have begun to believe my mind is full of tiny little topics that act like pimples.

No one can predict the order they start to fester in, or when they’ll get ripe and burst.

Wednesday 6 August 2014

IN MEMORIUM of JIM’S WEEDS



Nation's Best Weeds Society
THANK YOU FOR ALL THE SUPPORT.

Dear patrons,
With heavy hearts, we must inform you that we are no longer open for business, as of Sunday July 27th, 2014. Our doors shall remain shut, permanently. Truly, we cannot begin to thank you for all of your support and love throughout this past week, and past year.

The crew at Jim's Weeds has worked hard to ensure a comfortable, safe, non-judgmental environment for everyone that visited. People of all ages, ethnicities, and walks of life came through our doors, and happily relaxed and mingled with each other. People coming from abuse, dealing with disease, mental illness, and disabilities have found our little spot to be like a second to home them.

During the raid, the VPD shoved Jim (an elderly man battling cancer) when entering the store, and proceeded to scare our clientele by shouting and placing them under arrest. It was upsetting to see our elderly customers so visibly distraught by the presence of the police. Two of our customers began to have panic attacks, as they suffer from anxiety disorders, and Jim quickly set out to reassure them of their safety as the cops carried out their operation. Their medicine was confiscated, and they were escorted outside the store and released shortly thereafter.

Typical items were removed during the raid, while the Constable stood in front of a white van, over watching her evidence being collected and deposited within. They didn't seem to be prepared for the raid as they had to overturn all of our storage containers, and then used those to carry out all of the cannabis products and merchandise.

Confusingly, personal belongings, gifts, momentos, etc. were also confiscated. In one incident, an officer asked one of our staff for his wallet which he quickly handed over. The cop then took the money inside of it, stuffed it in his own pocket, and then handed the wallet back over to the aforementioned employee. A thank you card from a family who's little girl we helped to successfully treat her Dravets Syndrome was also removed.

Police approached customers and staff, asking them if they had the combo to the safe and demanded they open it. After refusing to do so, they threatened to bring someone in to drill open the safe (which is illegal) hoping that we would concede and allow them access.

There have been reports that our clientele have been buying and redistributing amongst local neighborhood kids. What people do with their medicinal cannabis once they leave the premises we cannot control, but we most certainly do not condone the re-selling of purchased cannabis products, whether it be to a minor or someone of age.

In fact, we have a strict policy of cutting up membership cards and banning patrons if they are caught exchanging either money, and/or cannabis. Jim's Weeds believes firmly that neither alcohol, tobacco, or cannabis should be bought and redistributed to minors. In all fairness, why haven't there been investigations into underage drinking and smoking of tobacco? Walking down the street, you will see far more youth choking down cigarettes and guzzling down liquor than puffing on a joint.

So why out of over 50 dispensaries in Vancouver, was Jim's Weeds targeted? Out of the thousands of people who are patients of dispensaries, there are going to be people who (despite everyone's best efforts) will take advantage and abuse the system for their own benefit, with the consequences and blame falling onto the shoulders of those who work at dispensaries.

Fearing the safety of our customers, staff, and families, we here at Jims Weeds have decided to cease business and terminate Nations Best Weeds Society. There is a bigger picture happening in the background...This event unfortunately has little to nothing to do with protecting our youth.

This has never been about money, about greed. Our intentions were genuine. To provide safe access to affordable medicine for everyone. For the sick, disabled, low-income, and otherwise. Jim is a selfless person, and was always there to help people out, especially those in desperate situations. This unfortunately has stirred up some negative attention from other dispensaries, and jealousy is not a flattering color for anyone to wear.

This is supposed to be the Cannabis Community. We should be brothers in arms working together towards a higher cause, not taking jabs at each other from behind.

For the small period of time that we were in business, the dispensary next door to us has done nothing but act with malice towards us. They have called the cops on us a multitude of times claiming nothing but poison and lies, which is huge waste of an officers time and tax payers money. Eventually, they started to take out their frustrations not only on us, but on their own members who visited our store. Phone calls were made to their own members, demanding they immediately stop attending our store otherwise their memberships would be revoked.

Again, this should be a community, not a competition. This kind of petty, shallow behavior reflects poorly on all of us who are in this fight together, wishing to make a difference. What kind of message does this send to those on the other side of this? We should be setting an example.

Everyone of you will be missed, and we cannot even being to thank you enough.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

Thank you.
With love,
- The crew from Jim's Weeds.


I posted this for permanent view of an eye-witness account of how the Cops carried out their duty at Jim’s.

INSULTING-IMMORAL-ILLEGAL
Standard Operating Practice
What else is new?

Blaine Barrett


No comments:

Post a Comment