Canada - CEO of synthetic marijuana company arrested, released on bail

[S.J.B.]

CEO of synthetic marijuana company arrested, released on bail
Julia Chapman
CBC
March 8th, 2013

Hamilton police have arrested the chief executive of a Toronto-based synthetic marijuana company whose product was being sold in the city.

Adam Wookey, 28, of Toronto, CEO of The Izms and Purepillz, was arrested Friday morning in Hamilton without incident, according to police.

Sgt. Dave McKenzie, investigator on the case, said Wookey was arrested in Hamilton because police there took interest in the case first, had a head start with research, and took the lead in the case.

McKenzie said he started investigating in November, when no one knew much about the synthetic marijuana or "fake weed" product.

?€œIt proliferated very quickly throughout Ontario,?€ said McKenzie.

Read the full story here.

Now Canadians have to worry about police over-zealously interpreting ambiguous analogue laws. CBC just had to get everyone riled up about "synthetic marijuana." Hopefully this guy gets a good lawyer and this case gets dropped like a rock.

 

[sekio]

The wording in the CDSA bans "cannabis or similar synthetic preparations". That's not ambiguous.

 

[S.J.B.]

The wording in the CDSA bans "cannabis or similar synthetic preparations". That's not ambiguous.

How do you define a "similar synthetic preparation" to cannabis? It's certainly not defined in the CDSA. Is it anything that's leafy and has an effect on a cannabinoid receptor? What if it's one compound sold as a powder? Cannabis is a complex biological mixture with 483 compounds. A handful of synthetic cannabinoids sprayed on some herb backing does not come close in composition or effect.

 

[23536]

It proliferated very quickly throughout Ontario

I think it needs to be pointed out that "proliferated very quickly" is redundant. Proliferate means "to quickly increase in number or amount".

 

[sekio]

How do you define a "similar synthetic preparation" to cannabis?

Cannabis is a green to brown leafy herb. Most of these products are green to brown leafy herbs.
Cannabis has an effect on CB1 and CB2 receptors when administered. So do these products.
Cannabis is normally sold in small quantities, often multiples of 3.5 gms. So are these products.
Cannabis can be eaten or smoked to produce an intoxicating effect. So can these products.
Cannabis can be appreciated for its "aroma". So can these products.

et cetera.

I've seen the "fake weed" in head shops before. It is pretty fucking obvious what it is trying to imitate. I'll admit the argument for banning the raw CB agonists is much flimsier, but nobody is selling pure JWH at head shops.

 

[S.J.B.]

What became of Wookey? You can read about his legal woes a series of Canadian court judgements:

R. v. Wookey, 2013 Ontario Court of Justice 83

R. v. Wookey, 2013 Ontario Court of Justice 825

R. v. Wookey, 2016 Ontario Court of Appeal 611

Adam Wookey v. Her Majesty the Queen, 2017 Supreme Court of Canada 432

To summarize, he was charged not under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, but under the Food and Drugs Act, for having sold BZP (which doesn't have a "drug identification number" in Canada and is therefore disallowed for sale as a drug) explicitly for human consumption. He was found guilty, his conviction was upheld on appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear his further appeal.

I haven't seen any indication that charges were ever pressed over his synthetic cannabinoid business, although it's possible they are winding their way through the courts.

 

[yepyepwoah]

What became of Wookey? You can read about his legal woes a series of Canadian court judgements:

R. v. Wookey, 2013 Ontario Court of Justice 83

R. v. Wookey, 2013 Ontario Court of Justice 825

R. v. Wookey, 2016 Ontario Court of Appeal 611

Adam Wookey v. Her Majesty the Queen, 2017 Supreme Court of Canada 432

To summarize, he was charged not under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, but under the Food and Drugs Act, for having sold BZP (which doesn't have a "drug identification number" in Canada and is therefore disallowed for sale as a drug) explicitly for human consumption. He was found guilty, his conviction was upheld on appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear his further appeal.

I haven't seen any indication that charges were ever pressed over his synthetic cannabinoid business, although it's possible they are winding their way through the courts.

Isn't Canada more lenient than say the USA over charges like that? It's been over five years, I would figure he is at least out on some type of parole if not entirely done with his sentence. If they are still trying to prosecute him over the syn can's five years later that's fucke.d

 

[S.J.B.]

Isn't Canada more lenient than say the USA over charges like that? It's been over five years, I would figure he is at least out on some type of parole if not entirely done with his sentence. If they are still trying to prosecute him over the syn can's five years later that's fucke.d

He may have been out on bail the the whole time he was appealing his convictions, so it's possible he didn't even start serving his sentence until 2017. I doubt he got more than a couple of years, though, so he could be out by now even if that were the case.

 

[S.J.B.]

R. v. Wookey, 2021 Ontario Court of Appeal 68

More Wookey! They charged him under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act for trafficking methylone, JWH-018, and JWH-073. He argued that they were not actually illegal under Canada's analogue laws or that, alternatively, Canada's analogue laws were unconstitutionally vague. He was convicted at trial, and appealed. The appeal was allowed and the case was stayed due to an unreasonably long delay between arrest and trial. Unfortunately, the appeal court did not consider his arguments regarding the analogue laws.