Two medical marijuana seizures at Kelowna airport

KELOWNA — The pot producers are talking but the RCMP is saying very little following the seizure of medical marijuana at the Kelowna airport.

The seizures happened a week ago and involved medical marijuana, presumably grown in the Okanagan, destined to Ontario.

There were two seizures. One, involving a company called Mettrum Limited. The other deals with a company called Tweed Marijuana – the first publicly traded medical marijuana company in Canada.

Tweed says, with the authorization of Health Canada, it had completed a transaction under the old medical marijuana regulations to acquire dozens of new strains of marijuana and ship them to Ontario. Tweed says that, in an effort to be transparent,  it invited the RCMP to inspect the marijuana before it was shipped and that’s when it was seized.

Tweed spokesman, Bruce Linton, speculates that the confusion deals with the transition between the old medical marijuana rules which expired on March 31 and the new regulations which forces medical marijuana users to purchase from large commercial growers.

Linton didn’t want to speculate if Tweed will get its shipment back from the RCMP and would not say how much marijuana was involved.

Mettrum ran into a similar situation at the Kelowna airport last Monday when  RCMP seized a shipment destined for Toronto.

It says federal regulators with Health Canada approved the transaction.

The company says it’s still not clear why the RCMP seized the shipment.

It says it’s a coincidence that RCMP would seize its medical marijuana and Tweed’s shipment on the same day.

The RCMP would not comment on the seizures because no charges have been laid.

“We typically do not confirm or deny investigations unless there is an investigational or public safety need,” says Sgt. Duncan Pound, of “E” Division Criminal Operations Federal Policing Serious and Organized Crime. “Specific details about any investigation only become known when that investigation results in charges being laid by Crown Counsel. This is done not only to protect the integrity of our investigations but also to protect all citizens that may be subject to a police investigation where no charges are laid.”