Several drug charges dropped against Saskatchewan Compassion Club owner, co-accused

Four people arrested after Saskatoon police raided an unlicensed medical marijuana dispensary last year now face fewer charges.

On Wednesday morning, Crown prosecutor Janelle Khan withdrew all charges that pertained to derivatives — a like marijuana oil — against Saskatchewan Compassion Club owner Mark Hauk and co-accused Lane Britnell, Jaime Hagle and Carson Ramsay.

Khan said the charges were dropped because of a Supreme Court ruling on derivatives that came out last summer.

“It was not illegal for the defendants, at the time of the incidents, to be in possession of the marijuana derivatives because we’ve confirmed that they all have valid medical marijuana authorizations,” Khan told reporters outside Saskatoon Provincial Court.

Currently, anyone with that authorization should be going to a licensed producer, she said.

“But at the time of the arrests there was no licensed producer that had a licence to sell marijuana derivatives,” Khan explained, which meant the four accused were only allowed to be in possession of oils.

The two women, Hagle and Ramsay, each had two counts of drug trafficking and one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking dropped. Hauk and Britnell also had two counts each of drug trafficking withdrawn, along with three counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and one count each of production of marijuana derivatives.

When asked why their authorizations weren’t checked before the charges were laid, Khan could only say that “in the course of investigation it came to light that there was an authorization”.

Hauk, Britnell, Hagle and Ramsay still face charges in connection to possessing and trafficking dried marijuana after the downtown dispensary was raided on Oct. 29, 2015.