Karen Ogloff will have a decision to make.

The Lumby woman, a 20-year-sufferer of lupus, makes a trip into Vernon regularly for product at Herb91裸聊视频檚 Healing Center, in the Alpine Centre on Kal Lake Road, product Ogloff says helps her with her disease.

Tuesday afternoon, at a rally held by Herb91裸聊视频檚 owner Russ Stevenson, Ogloff heard the owner say he was closing his doors at 6 p.m. 91裸聊视频� facing, Stevenson said, a $5 million fine and three years in jail if he didn91裸聊视频檛 91裸聊视频� leaving her in a lurch as to where she91裸聊视频檒l get her product.

91裸聊视频淚 was diagnosed with lupus in 1992 and, so far, Herb91裸聊视频檚 products are the only thing that have helped me,91裸聊视频� said Ogloff, 47, who has been using Stevenson91裸聊视频檚 products for 91裸聊视频渁bout a year.91裸聊视频�

91裸聊视频淚 have no idea what I91裸聊视频檓 going to do (now). The prices here are good, the products are good, they91裸聊视频檙e excellent. I91裸聊视频檓 worried if he closes I won91裸聊视频檛 be able to get a product that helps a lot.91裸聊视频�

Stevenson held a rally at his shop Tuesday, attended by about 30 customers and supporters, protesting the City of Vernon insisting he close his business because he doesn91裸聊视频檛 have the proper licensing.

Support for Stevenson came from Ogloff and the likes of Julia Berschley, and her grandson, Bryce Kennedy. Berschley91裸聊视频檚 son, Collin, Bryce91裸聊视频檚 father, died Christmas Eve 2018 after a 20-plus-year battle with multiple myeloma.

91裸聊视频淢y son suffered for more than 20 years, and if it wasn91裸聊视频檛 for Russ supplying cannabis, and edibles, and smoking products, my son may not have lived as long as he did,91裸聊视频� said Berschley. 91裸聊视频淲hen I couldn91裸聊视频檛 afford to buy him his products, Russ gave him a whole bag of edibles for free. He didn91裸聊视频檛 charge me.91裸聊视频�

91裸聊视频淗e got a lot of quality of life out of your product,91裸聊视频� said Bryce to Stevenson, who said he91裸聊视频檚 been selling cannabis in Vernon for more than six years. He is one of the original founders of the Herbal Health Centre, right behind his current shop in the Alpine Centre. He did that for four years with the proper city business licences, then opened his own store two years ago. Since then, Stevenson said he91裸聊视频檚 spent this time 91裸聊视频渓ooking after our patients.91裸聊视频�

The City of Vernon, he said, came to his shop in January 2018 and asked that he put a covenant on the property and apply for a special temporary use permit to allow him to operate straight through until recreational marijuana was legalized in October 2018 and until provincial operating licences were approved. One of the stipulations, he said, was that he was given a 91裸聊视频渃ertain period of time for the licence to be on the wall.91裸聊视频�

91裸聊视频淲e can91裸聊视频檛 control the speed the government works, so there91裸聊视频檚 no way we can say product will be on the wall in three months or a year, so a restriction on time frame makes no sense,91裸聊视频� he said, calling the application process 91裸聊视频渁bsolutely cumbersome and ridiculous.91裸聊视频�

He has continued to operate without a proper licence, giving away, he claimed, more than $30,000 worth of product to his customers. He had nine employees prior to the regulations but has been operating the store himself for the past few months, and Stevenson said his client base number is 2,800.

91裸聊视频淭he people being hurt by all of these delays are the medical patients,91裸聊视频� said Stevenson. 91裸聊视频淧atients can only buy off a licensed producer for the government and those producers are not compassionate. The other problem I see is medical patients are ordering online, paying for shipping and waiting for a product to show up while recreational users can walk into a store and buy their product. How is that OK? Why are we punishing the most vulnerable people in our society?91裸聊视频�

Stevenson blasted the government91裸聊视频檚 products, saying the products he sells 91裸聊视频渇ar out-exceed what the government sells,91裸聊视频� and also City of Vernon Mayor Victor Cumming for a lack of response to four phones calls from Stevenson, and to calls from 91裸聊视频�500 of his customers.91裸聊视频�

91裸聊视频淲e definitely did not get 500 calls, we got quite a few and each had an e-mail message returned to them,91裸聊视频� said Cumming, who feels sorry for Stevenson91裸聊视频檚 plight.

91裸聊视频淚 feel for him, I really do. He91裸聊视频檚 offering what he thinks is a great product but the federal government will not legalize those products.

91裸聊视频淢r. Stevenson was made quite aware, and he knows, he91裸聊视频檚 been operating without a licence. He was told he had to quit selling medical marijuana as only the federal government can do that and people have to order online. He was then made aware that the province would be responsible for licensing recreational marijuana and go through the application process (which Stevenson said he had). He has not been granted a licence by the province so the city can91裸聊视频檛 give him a business licence.

91裸聊视频淚 don91裸聊视频檛 know what else we can do.91裸聊视频�

If he does close for good at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Stevenson, who said he didn91裸聊视频檛 want to apply for a recreational licence, called it 91裸聊视频渁 sad day in history,91裸聊视频� and got further support from advocate Cynthia Breden of Vernon.

91裸聊视频淚 thank Russ for his integrity, putting his own health and safety and own freedoms and monies at risk,91裸聊视频� she said. 91裸聊视频淲e stand with you, we stand for you. It91裸聊视频檚 so easy to lose our lives to the Internet and order online, but do people realize we91裸聊视频檙e giving away little bits of freedom here and there, and Russ is reminding us that we need to stand up to our right to choose.91裸聊视频�

roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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