Saskatoon police raid Saskatchewan Compassion Club

Saskatoon police arrested four people Thursday after raiding a recently-opened medical marijuana dispensary.

Police went to the Saskatchewan Compassion Club on 2nd Avenue North and to a  home in the Sutherland area.

Charges include trafficking of a controlled substance, possession for the purpose of trafficking and possession of the proceeds of crime, all in relation to marijuana and cannabis resin.

At a press conference Thursday afternoon, Inspector Dave Haye with the Saskatoon Police Service said Compassion Club founder Mark Hauk had been warned he’d be arrested if he was found breaking marijuana laws.

“They were operating as if they were a legitimate business. They are not a legitimate business. They were marijuana trafficking, so they’re drug traffickers,” he said.

One customer who didn’t want to be named expressed dismay when she arrived to find the dispensary closed.

“I was going to get (medical marijuana) another way, like, going through another doctor and I was just coming here to find out what doctor and talk to someone else who has the same disease as me. So yeah, I can’t believe it was raided,” she said. 

The police operation, called Project Fextern, was an investigation by the Saskatoon Integrated Drug Enforcement Street Team (SIDEST) and Integrated Organized Crime North (IOCN).

The four people arrested are expected to appear in Saskatoon Provincial Court on Friday, Oct. 30, 2015.