[420 Girl]

The owner of a medical marijuana compassionate club launched in Oceanside this week claims he is providing a much-needed service to the community.

Bob Estes, a medical marijuana user, opened The Organic Matters Compassionate Access Centre in Errington on Tuesday.

The Fair Road store sells a variety of organic pot, at $7 per gram, to licensed medical marijuana users.

It also offers cannabis cookies, chocolate, tincture (a cannabis-infused alcoholic drink) and cannabis compresses. Cannabis creams and salves are on the way.

Activites that go on at some cannabis compassion clubs are illegal but authorities have turned a blind eye to similar clubs in the past. Some advocates say this happens in part because medical marijuana use is legal. Oceanside RCMP officials were not available for comment yesterday but Estes said he has yet to be visited by local police officers.

Estes says the need for access to organic marijuana is there, especially with the compromised immune systems of sick people. He buys his pot from a network of organic-growers and said several sales have been made already. Health Canada grows one type of cannabis for registered medical marijuana users but its program has been plagued with problems from the start, including reports of contamination and low potency.

Estes says he will not sell marijuana to anyone who is not licensed with Health Canada.

Estes, a married father of two young children, at one time used to home-deliver from a service run out of his house but says he is less nervous about his public store.

He says he will continue to operate even if police shut him down.

"(Medical marijuana use) is not something that should be shady. I feel the community has asked me to be here," said Estes on Friday. "I'm not trying to hide anything. I don't believe that at this point in humankind, that I'm going to go to jail for this."

Organic Matters Compassionate Access Centre is open Tuesday to Saturday from noon until 6 p.m.

DBell@nanaimodailynews.com

250-729-4255


NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Nanaimo Daily News
Author: Danielle Bell
Contact: Nanaimo Daily News
Copyright: 2010 Canwest Digital Media
Website: Marijuana distributor defends new service


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