Saskatoon police chief called Supreme Court ruling on medical pot oil "a red herring" used by Compassion Club
Chief believed club members not authorized to possess weed oil
Prosecutors have dropped all charges related to marijuana derivatives that were laid against four members of the Saskatchewan Compassion Club.
After the high-profile raid on Saskatoon's only medical marijuana dispensary, investigators concluded that the four accused were, in fact, allowed to possess the derivatives.
The Supreme Court had ruled last year that the derivatives fell under the definition of medical marijuana.
Weighill weighs in
Police chief Clive Weighill didn't want to talk about the dropped charges on Wednesday.
But he did address the issue a month ago when he spoke with Saskatoon Morning.
At the time, Weighill said that he was aware of the Supreme Court ruling.
But he didn't believe it applied to the Compassion Club members.
"I know another little bit of a red herring was the Supreme Court of Canada said that people should be allowed to have it in liquid form. And I think that's where the Compassion Club kind of stepped into the fray and said, 'Well, the producers right now don't have it in a liquid form, so we're going to do that,'" he said in an interview.
"But they're not a sanctioned agency under Health Canada to do that. That's my understanding."
Prosecutors change tune
But after the raid, prosecutors decided that the club members were authorized.
"It was not illegal for the defendants at the time of the incident to be in possession of the marijuana derivatives because we've confirmed that they all have valid medical marijuana authorization," Crown prosecutor Janelle Khan said outside court.
The club members are still facing charges of trafficking dried marijuana.