[420 Girl]

Local political junkie, businessman and pot advocate Tim Felger may lose his business licence to operate the head shop Da Kine after being charged with possession of marijuana and six counts of trafficking in a controlled substance.

Felger was arrested May 13 in a police sting operation at his Da Kine store on Essendene Avenue after he sold small amounts of pot to an undercover officer on several occasions.

Felger was in custody when the large windows that front his shop were smashed in by vandals, but Felger remains unfazed by it all, saying if he loses his licence for Da Kine he'll open up a sign shop instead. "I'll spend my days making signs and putting them up on public property," he said, laughing.

Pot advocate Tim Felger stands outside his store, Da Kine, in downtown Abbotsford. The store is closed and the business owner is in danger of losing his business licence after a recent drug charge.

Discussing what transpired, Felger said, "Well, they arrested me for selling pot and I thought we had an understanding with the police department and with the mayor that we were going to make marijuana the lowest priority [for arrests], and we made a police board presentation, and they did not tell me 'no, don't start selling pot.'"

Felger said that local law enforcement was aware that he and some of his associates have a functional medical-marijuana distribution facility up and running, and that they would be selling pot to individuals as young as 16 years old, as long as the youths had parental consent.

"These kids that are 16 right now, will be eligible to vote in 2011 for the civic election, " said Felger, who accused the Abbotsford Downtown Business Association of filing all the complaints and threatened to subpoena some of its members.

Abbotsford Police spokesman Ian MacDonald said the sting operation came about after a number of complaints were received by police from the public about pot being sold to youth and students from the Da Kine shop.

"This wasn't a police initiated response at all in the beginning . . . but our drug squad initiated a project, and as a result of the project we confirmed the allegations from the community."

According to Felger, even if he cannot run a store, he will still maintain a political office at the Da Kine location. "They can't stop me," said Felger.

He is scheduled to appear in court again on Monday, and is representing himself, but was vague about where the proceedings would continue from there, adding that if he did get jail time for the charges, "So what? I don't care. It isn't going to stop me.

"Every arrest is a badge of courage, and every [jail] sentence is a medal of honour."

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