Three people involved with a downtown Saskatoon medical marijuana dispensary before it was raided in 2015 have been committed to stand trial on trafficking-related charges.
The preliminary hearing for Mark Phillip Hauk, Lane Anthony Britnell and Jaime Michelle Hagel wrapped up in Saskatoon provincial court on Thursday. Publication bans are usually in place on evidence presented at preliminary hearings — which are held to determine if there is enough evidence to proceed to trial — but no ban was requested at this one.
Hauk owned the Saskatchewan Compassion Club, Britnell was an employee and Hagel was a volunteer. Each of them faces four charges: one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking marijuana, two counts of trafficking marijuana and one count of possessing proceeds of crime over $5,000.
Mark Hauk, charged in compassion club raid on Oct. 29, 2015.
Lane Britnell, charged in compassion club raid on Oct. 29, 2015.
Jamie Hagel, charged in compassion club raid on Oct. 29, 2015.
In another rare move, the defence called witnesses at the preliminary hearing instead of the Crown. Five police officers took the stand in October, and two more testified on Thursday.
The purpose of the hearing was to lay the “groundwork” for whatever follows at the higher court level, Judge Barry Morgan explained after committing the matter to Court of Queen’s Bench.
Const. Michael Johnson, a member of the Saskatoon city police drug enforcement unit who testified Thursday, said he followed Hauk to a grocery store a month before the dispensary raid.
On Oct. 27, he waited outside the club while another officer purchased marijuana with a fake prescription after being turned away the previous week. The next day, he swore an information to obtain search warrants for Hauk’s home and the compassion club on Second Avenue North.
He then read Hauk and Britnell their charges when the men were arrested during the raid on Oct. 29, 2015.
At the time, Johnson said he was not aware that the club was specifically selling medical marijuana, or that Hauk and Britnell had medical marijuana prescriptions authorizing them to possess a certain amount.
Superintendent David Haye, the second officer to testify, said he did not know how much marijuana a prescription holder could legally possess at one time.
Court heard neither Johnson nor Haye received any training specific to medical marijuana legislation prior to the raid. Both officers also said they were unaware of any public complaints made to police about the dispensary.
Police were investigating marijuana trafficking and no simple possession charges were laid, the Crown clarified during cross-examination. Johnson said he checked with Health Canada to determine that the compassion club did not have a licence to sell medical marijuana.
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