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“I don’t know what that’s costing them, but it’s costing a lot of money in every sense of the word,” said Briere, who maintained there were likely other more pressing matters police could have been attending to, instead of standing guard outside his business overnight.

“We want to know what’s going too – we want to know why they’re wasting our resources.”

He also notes that Da Kine has never been fined, unlike shops in his chain which were issued fines when Vancouver introduced regulations and licensing for dispensaries.

According to RCMP Sgt. Alanna Dunlop, officers were sent to the Surrey shop on Wednesday when a controlled drugs and substances act investigation was launched, and stayed there as RCMP prepared a search warrant.

Dunlop said three people were arrested and later released, but had no details on the reason for the arrests or when the arrests occurred.

“We received information that the location was possibly selling marijuana products,” said Dunlop in an email. “Access to cannabis is only permitted under the terms and conditions set out in the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations. Storefronts selling marijuana are not authorized to sell cannabis for medical or any other purposes.”

Dunlop said such operations were “illegally supplied, and provide products that are unregulated and may be unsafe” and that illegal storefronts distributing and selling cannabis products are subject to law enforcement.