ALBERTA: Three people have been charged and 200 marijuana plants seized after a month-long investigation into an illegal marijuana business in Edmonton’s Beverly neighbourhood.
The Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams Green Team began investigating the non-profit Mobile Access Compassionate Resources Organization Society, or MACROS, in mid-June after receiving several tips from the public about the illegal sale of marijuana from a hemp shop at 4121 118th Ave.
Last Wednesday, police seized a large amount of marijuana-infused baked goods, candies, oils and dried buds during a search warrant at the shop, ALERT spokesman Mike Tucker said Monday. They also searched a home in Strathcona County, where they found 200 marijuana plants and an extraction lab to make hash oil.
The grow-op was dismantled.
Robert Cyre, 66, faces two counts of production of a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking. His wife, Janice Cyre, 64, faces two counts of production of a controlled substance and two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking. Her son, Aaron Bott, 40, faces one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking.
The Cyres founded MACROS 11 years ago to supply marijuana only to people with a Health Canada medical marijuana licence or a doctor’s prescription.
The plants were found at the Cyres’ home in Spring Lake. Both have medical marijuana licences to treat various ailments and were permitted to grow their own marijuana, Bott said.
“They had every right to grow their medicine,” Bott said Monday.
“The plants that they were growing there was for my parents personal medicine. Period.”
