The owner of a local marijuana dispensary has turned himself in to Regina police to face charges of drug trafficking.
Pat Warnecke, 39, owns Best Buds Society and has been an outspoken critic of city police for raiding his store. He said by enforcing this law, officers were denying his patients access to medical marijuana.
After being in contact with our lawyer and the Crown Prosecutor, directly for the last 10 days and arranging to go in…
Posted by Best Buds Society on Wednesday, June 20, 2018
Warnecke was arrested Thursday morning after police issued a warrant Wednesday.
He, along with a 31-year-old woman, faces a list of drug possession and trafficking charges, including laundering proceeds of a crime.
Six other people are also facing trafficking charges in relation to police raids in March.
At the time of the raids on six different dispensaries, police said they gave fair warning to all of the businesses to expect enforcement of the current law against selling marijuana in a storefront.
While the federal government’s Bill C-45 passed this week to legalize recreational marijuana, the law will only come into effect Oct. 17.
Best Buds Society was also not among the list of successful applicants granted a licence to sell pot in Saskatchewan.
Warnecke makes his first court appearance in Regina on Thursday afternoon.