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Ottawa police have refused to release the names of the 17 people charged in the 11 raids conducted so far, saying it would interfere with their drug investigations.

But the Citizen has identified and traced the court records of seven of the budtenders, and no charges have been dropped.

Ottawa police have said they consulted with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, the agency responsible for prosecuting drug crimes, to make sure charges could be viable before any raids were conducted. They also issued warnings that the dispensaries were illegal and drug laws could be enforced.

There are about 15 dispensaries in Ottawa, and their operations vary widely.

At one of the newest shops, Trees Dispensary Society on Montreal Road, the 21-year-old clerk on duty Tuesday said he took the job because that’s all he could find. He arrived from Montreal a couple of weeks ago looking for work, and is staying on a friend’s couch. He dropped off a pile of résumés, but the pot shop was the only business that responded, he said.

“You gotta do what you gotta do. I needed the job.”

He didn’t know who owned the shop or the name of the manager who hired him. He was not warned he would risk drug trafficking charges if police raided the shop, although he knew the business was illegal.

How much is he paid? “They didn’t tell me.”

At another shop tucked into an industrial mall on Canotek Road in Gloucester, owner-operator Charlie Cloutier says he only sells “award-winning, quality products” to people who have a doctor’s note proving they need medical marijuana, or who are already signed up to buy it legally from a Health-Canada licensed producer.

“We don’t deal in recreational sales,” says Cloutier, who works in the shop himself. “I don’t hire teenagers. I’m taking the risk.

‘”I am very worried about police raids. I’ve got a family, I’ve got children. But I feel strongly about this.”

The store is a franchise of the Victoria-based Beard Brothers Society, but Cloutier says he plans to change the name and run it independently soon.

jmiller@postmedia.com

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