[420 Girl]

Ontario - Delhi grower Rick West believes local police are building a "mountain over a marijuana hill" after two residents en route from his medical marijuana information centre were stopped.

West claims that a Norfolk OPP officer questioned two local women -- one being a medical marijuana cardholder -- after they left his King Street shop in Delhi on Tuesday night. They had only stopped in to pick up some paperwork, so the other woman could apply for her authorization to possess pot, he explained. However, he claims that the women were shortly stopped after by a police officer around 6 p.m. Reportedly, the officer questioned and then lectured them about marijuana.

"There's no reason why the OPP need to stop people on the street and lecture them about the guidelines to the card," he said yesterday from his Delhi residence.

The female cardholder is now "too friggin' scared to come in," he explained. He is now planning to offer interested residents an escort to and from the shop by his guards. He also wants to wiretap his clients with cameras.

"We shouldn't be harassed because we're walking out of a shop with a marijuana leaf on the front," he quipped.

However, Staff-Sergeant Rick Tout says Norfolk OPP is still in the early stages of learning about this storefront. He also contends that West might be hypothesizing about why these women were stopped by police.

"He's making an assumption that they were stopped for leaving his store," he offered.

Despite this setback, West claims his storefront has been well received by local residents interested in medical marijuana. He believes more than 100 residents have stopped in to his King Street pot shop, pulling out a list of both current and prospective cardholders.

"We've handed out stacks and stacks of documents," he said. "We have already killed our first $40 printer, but we knew it would happen."

For years, the Delhi grower has been a makeshift cannabis consultant. While he has previous criminal convictions for growing pot illegally, West now possesses a producer's license that allows him to maintain 98 marijuana plants. The sufferer of both a connective tissue disorder and arthritis supplies his own need -- 20 grams of pot per day -- but also matches up licensed producers with clients.

"What I do is not illegal," he quipped. "If it was, I'd be in jail."

However, he claims law enforcement have placed enough pressure on him that he has resorted to various methods of protection. In his home, he shows a beating stick and a rifle -- the latter, he readily admits, he is not supposed to possess.

"It comes to the point where I have to protect myself, my family and my way of life, and you can only do that with a gun," he added.

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