On day before legalized pot, Regina business owner gets conditional sentence on trafficking charges
Jonathan Metz, the owner of Regina's Green Space Clinic, has been given a 12-month conditional sentence on trafficking charges — on the eve of recreational cannabis legalization in Canada.
He pleaded guilty on Tuesday to the charges, which stemmed from a raid in March that involved Green Space and five other Regina stores.
"It is ironic that yesterday he received a conditional sentence for trafficking in a substance that today is commercially legal," Metz's lawyer, Bob Hrycan, said Wednesday.
"But the law is the law and requires respect, and Mr. Metz acknowledged that with his plea yesterday."
The sentence means Metz will live at home with a number of conditions. Among those, he is not allowed to be at any unlicensed businesses that sell cannabis and must complete 50 hours of community service.
Metz also has to submit to a search without a warrant of his person, his vehicle or his house should a police officer have grounds to believe he is in breach of the conditions.
Metz's store helped connect people with doctors who could help them obtain Health Canada licences to possess and consume cannabis.
In March, Metz told CBC News that two plain-clothes officers entered his store and asked to buy some pot. He told them the store didn't sell pot, but told them he could help them get a licence.
When he asked them for ID to help fill out forms needed to apply for a licence, they told him he was under arrest, Metz said.
Trafficking usually comes with jail time. Hrycan said he thinks the judge had Wednesday's legalization day in mind when she sentenced him on Tuesday.
"It does set a precedent. It will be used as a benchmark in terms of how the courts consider future cases like this," Hrycan said.
The sentence was a joint submission from the Crown and the defence.
Hrycan also said that the sentencing rules for trafficking marijuana could change now that recreational cannabis use and retail sales are legal.
"The question is, does the offence of selling marijuana carry the same social stigma that used to and should it receive the same penalty that it used to? Many would say no," he said.
Effectively, people who now sell marijuana without a licence are committing a commercial offence and not a criminal one, Hrycan said.
With files from Guy Quenneville
