Mounties must return marijuana

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This article was published 15/08/2015 (3787 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mounties will have to give back the weed they seized after mistakenly raiding a grow-op, only to later learn the owner had a valid permit to grow medical marijuana.

The property owner, Brandon resident Jerry Pomehichuk, suggests the incident highlights law enforcement isn’t keeping up with medical-marijuana laws.

He says police don’t see marijuana as medicine, but still as a substance that needs to be controlled.

“They’ve been trained one way for a long time, and it’s very hard to train an old dog,” Pomehichuk said Friday after all drug charges against him were dropped.

However, Blue Hills RCMP Acting Staff Sgt. Mike Boychuk said it wasn’t a mistake based on law enforcement mentality. He said it was an honest error that was a result of miscommunication with Health Canada.

“If I would have known that they’d had licences, we wouldn’t have pulled the trigger on it,” Boychuk said. “What needs to change is, I believe, a better communication system with Health Canada so that police officers are aware who has licences and who doesn’t in their own local area.”

Blue Hills RCMP led the investigation, which resulted in the raid of a commercial building in the RM of Cornwallis June 21, after being informed that there was a grow-op there.

They put the building under surveillance on June 20, detected an odour of marijuana coming from building’s vents and arrested Pomehichuk who was seen leaving the building.

Mounties got a warrant, raided the building and found what was described as a sophisticated grow-op. They seized 206 plants and nearly five kilograms of dried marijuana from inside.

It was only after the fact police learned Pomehichuk and his wife had valid licenses for the production and possession of marijuana.

Pomehichuk and his lawyer, Eric Wach, have said the couple was within the allowable amount of marijuana they could grow and possess.

As charges against Pomehichuk were dropped on Friday, Wach successfully asked the judge to order the return of all the seized drugs.

However, RCMP confirm all the plants have since been destroyed — police got a destruction order from Health Canada due to a lack of appropriate storage.

The dried marijuana remains, and presumably will be returned to Pomehichuk.

In court, Crown attorney Christina Cheater indicated Pomehichuk could seek remedy in civil court for any plants that were improperly seized and destroyed.

ihitchen@brandonsun.com