'You can't blame the bull for charging': Medical pot advocate not surprised by dispensary raid

The police raid of an unlicensed medical marijuana dispensary in Saskatoon has sparked a variety of opinions. A medical marijuana advocate from the province says the Saskatchewan Compassion Club should have expected a raid when it first opened its doors.

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"If you wave a flag in front of a bull, you can't blame the bull for charging," said Fred Glawischnig.

Glawischnig is an advocate for medicinal marijuana and the former head of Canadian Cannabis Solutions, a defunct company that attempted to get a license through Health Canada to become a licensed producer.

"The community, the city, the police force and Health Canada warned this gentleman several times that what he was doing was illegal and he chose to press on," said Glawischnig of Mark Hauk, owner of the Saskatchewan Compassion Club.

If you wave a flag in front of a bull, you can't blame the bull for charging.- Fred Glawischnig, medical marijuana advocate

"Unfortunately, when you want to make up your own laws and rules, our society doesn't allow that. So, they were forced to take action through the measures that were available to them."

According to Glawischnig, had this been about 15 years ago, a compassion club in Saskatchewan would be much needed because patient access to medical marijuana was extremely difficult back them. However, since the creation of the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR) and the now, Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR), he said the need for compassion clubs anywhere in Canada have considerably decreased.  

"I have a loved one that uses medical marijuana," explained Glawischnig. "I go over and help this person order their medicine with my smartphone and if we order it at nine in the morning, given our proximity from the provider, it arrives the next day in the mail."

Though the prices are reasonable for the dried version, Glawischnig mentioned the federal programs have yet to provide liquid portions of the plant for oral ingestion — something the Saskatchewan Compassion Club offered. But he argued this is something that should be tried and tested by people that are legally able to do so.

"The industry is learning and importantly, with a doctor-approved program, that data can be gathered so the industry can be improved," said Glawischnig.

"We cannot just choose which laws we're going to obey today and we certainly can't make up our own laws that are going to put people that are sick in danger."