Blayne Poirer and Richard Stagg

Orders Issued: Two (2) Compliance Orders of $36,952.66 each

On July 16, 2019, the Community Safety Unit (CSU) attended at a storefront operating as “Canna Cabana” at 5638 Highway 97, in the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen near Oliver, BC (Canna Cabana) for the purpose of conducting an education inspection pursuant to section 89 of the Cannabis Control and Licensing Act (CCLA) and providing education on the seizure authorities and consequences for selling illegal cannabis contained in the CCLA.

On October 29, 2019, CSU Officers conducted a second section 89 inspection at Canna Cabana. During this enforcement inspection, the CSU Officers seized cannabis pursuant to section 89(1)(g) of the CCLA (the Seized Cannabis).

On May 28, 2020, the Director of the CSU issued Notices of Administrative Monetary Penalty (NAMP), proposing to impose administrative monetary penalties on Richard Stagg and Blayne Poirier, based on the enforcement inspection.

On November 30, 2021, after a written hearing involving the participation of the NAMP recipients, the Deputy Director issued a decision pursuant to sections 94(1) and (2) of the CCLA. The Deputy Director concluded that the seized cannabis was not medical cannabis as defined in the Cannabis Control Regulation, Part 3 of the Cannabis Control and Licensing Act (CCLA) applies, and Blayne Poirier and Richard Stagg were selling cannabis in contravention of the CCLA.

The Deputy Director exercised her discretion and imposed an administrative monetary penalty on each of Richard Stagg and Blayne Poirier, after considering the statutory purposes of the CCLA and the absence of mitigating factors (including no breach of procedural fairness and no Charter values being engaged).

Pursuant to section 94(2)(a) of the CCLA, the amount of the administrative monetary penalty is equal to two times the retail value of the cannabis that was sold, possessed for the purpose of sale or produced in contravention of the CCLA, as determined by the Director. The Deputy Director found that there was no evidence of cannabis sold or produced, and therefore the administrative monetary penalty was equal to two times the retail value of the Seized Cannabis (i.e., the cannabis possessed for the purpose of sale in contravention of the CCLA). The Deputy Director concluded the retail value of the seized cannabis was $18,476.33 and therefore Richard Stagg and Blayne Poirier were each issued an administrative penalty of $36,952.66.