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In return, about 3,000 pre-rolled joints were handed out to the donors of those goods.

He came to our rescue

The possession (up to 30 grams) and consumption of recreational cannabis by adults became legal in Canada on Oct. 17. In Ontario, however, only online retail sales are legal, and — until next April — purchases can only be made from the government-owned Ontario Cannabis Store.

“I’m thinking outside the box here,” said Lucier, whose activism and involvement in cannabis has landed him behind bars on a number of occasions. Based on this week’s response, “people seem to like what I’m doing.”

Lucier was so busy playing Santa on Friday that he called his employer, saying he’d be late for his usual afternoon shift.

“He came to our rescue,” said Donna Roy, program manager at the Windsor Youth Centre. Lucier had popped in earlier in the day to drop off some children’s comforters and was shown the bare cupboards at the WYC’s pantry, set up to help hungry young people stretch their food dollars.

“They showed me the empty shelves and I said, ‘You’ve got to be joking.’ I said ‘I’ll be back,'” said Lucier.

“Most youths have backpacks, so we fill them up,” said Roy. Young parents who meet on Tuesdays, the young working poor and those on social assistance or disability are all helped. But until Lucier returned later that same day with a truckload of donated food, and a promise of more, it was slim pickings in the pantry.

“We’re doing a lot better now,” said Roy.

Photo by Dax Melmer / Windsor Star

Perhaps one of the more surprising food donors to visit the Compassion House on Friday was a retired Windsor drug squad sergeant who knew Lucier from the days when he would regularly arrest him.