User:H/Hempology 101 - notes

This is for collecting citations for an article I will write later

Official website
Note, these facts are from a primary source, the Hempology website itself, only non-controversial claims should be cited to this source, unless a secondary source is also available.


 * Hempology 101 started weekly meetings in Vancouver in November 1994.
 * Ted Smith attended his first meeting in January 1995.
 * By Sept he had decided to host the Wednesday night meetings in downtown Victoria and volunteered to write a Hempology 101 textbook.
 * The CBC was the first public medical cannabis club in Canada. (independent source needed)


 * The Cannabis Buyers Club was run from a Victoria apartment after Hempology came to Victoria. The club had problems as more thieves appeared than donors in those first few years and the services of the club stayed quite limited.
 * The position of the Cannabis Buyers Club is that it is unfair to require a doctor's recommendation in order to access cannabis, from someone who suffers from a permanent, physical disability or disease.
 * The club believes doctors are reluctant to endorse cannabis, primarily because they have been warned by the College of Physicians and Surgeons not to promote the herb.
 * On November 8, 2000, Ted Smith was arrested and charged with trafficking for sharing a few joints after a weekly meeting of Hempology 101 at 4:20pm at the University of Victoria.
 * One week later, on International Medical Marijuana Day, Ted Smith was arrested and charged again for trafficking, this time for giving pot cookies away.
 * After a member was cut off for re-selling the cannabis from the club, he came back with the police. The police performed a search and seizure at the club, which put it in debt but did not shut the doors. Warrants were issued in March and June of 2002, which again put the club in more debt and worried the membership.
 * Sept 7, 2004, Justice Chaperon granted a judicial acquittal to Colby Budda and Ted Smith, stating the person who brought the police to our door was cut-off for re-selling. She recognized our motives were not for profit but for helping sick people only.

City Council meeting minutes

 * Hempology 101 applied for a business license to sell books and was refused by the license inspector because the society was involved with the sale of a controlled substance.
 * Located at 826 Johnson, Victoria, BC
 * In a March 4th 2003 memorandum from Constable Doug Holmes it is said the club has been investigated 8 times. Including:
 * 1) Jan. 3rd, 2002, 3 people arrested and charged with drug offenses. Police seized Marijuanna cookies, seeds, and the membersip list.
 * 2) March 23rd, 2002, Search warrant executed, police seized cannabis, cannabis cookies, oils, hash, and display stand.
 * 3) April 22nd, 2002, Club was broken into. Police found Cannabis and cannabis pipes with price tags.
 * 4) June 21st, 2002, Search warrant executed. Police seized cannabis and scales.
 * Feb, 19th, 2003, Search warrant executed. Police seized cannabis, cannabis cookies, cannabis oils, and cash. Two males were arrested.
 * As of the city council meeting there was 8 outstanding charges agains Ted Smith.
 * While the city council refused a business license to the Hempology 101 society on the grounds that is sold cannabis, it was moved by Councillor Hughes, and seconded by Councillor COleman that the Mayor request to discuss with the minister of health and minister of justice of the gov of Can, that a suitable method to allow the distribution of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

Cannabis Culture Magazine 07-Mar-2001

 * On November 15, in Victoria, BC, activist Ted Smith was arrested and charged for trying to distribute cannabis cookies at an annual Medical Marijuana Day event. Smith claimed had prepared 420 cookies, intending to hand them out for free.
 * Smith had been charged a few weeks earlier for trafficking, because during a weekly meeting of "Hempology 101" at the University of Victoria campus, Smith had passed joints out to the crowd.

Victoria Times-Colonist Feb 15, 2003

 * Victoria-based International Hempology 101 Society began selling $25 Cannabonds redeemable for a quarter-ounce of high-grade pot once or if it is legal. (Sales started friday before article date)
 * The Hempology society is run out of the same Johnson Street storefront(in Victoria,BC) as the Cannabis Buyers' Clubs of Canada, which sells pot to people who can document an incurable illness.
 * The Hempology store was raided four times last year.(last year from 2003)
 * Society founder Ted Smith faces six trafficking charges, which he is challenging on constitutional grounds. (as of 2003)
 * last year city council was persuaded to declare Nov. 15 International Medical Marijuana Day. (find something about this)
 * The club claims 1,200 members, all of whom must show photo ID and a doctor's diagnosis of their illness before they can buy.
 * They can purchase cannabis in amounts as little as $2 worth, or as much as an ounce, which sells for $155 to $215, depending on the potency.
 * Quotes by Ted Smith
 * 1) "Every member has a permanent medical condition, if the club wasn't legitimate, then we would have been shut down a long time ago."
 * 2) "Our group would like to see itself put out of business" in reference to wishing that the government provided the medical marijuana.

Victoria Times-Colonist Nov 09, 2004

 * Provincial court Judge Loretta Chaperon stayed charges against longtime marijuana activist Ted Smith and co-accused Colby Budda.
 * Both had charged of possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking stemming from a January 2002 raid on Smith's storefront Johnson Street business.
 * Judge Loretta Chaperon quotes:
 * 1) "In this case, I am satisfied that Smith and Budda operated a compassion club to provide persons with a medical need with a safe, reliable supply of marijuana,"
 * 2) "Although the scrutiny of potential members was not as stringent as the government might have wished, they were doing the job the government was not doing, namely providing a reliable supply of marijuana to those in need of it."
 * The judge explains
 * The federal government had set up a scheme for people with various conditions to be able to possess marijuana for their use, but did not set up a reliable means for marijuana to be obtained.
 * The government was effectively relying on operations like compassion clubs while continuing to criminalize the clubs' activities, she said.
 * Then says "In so doing, it was engendering a disrespect for the law and administration of justice because of the fundamental unfairness of such a position."
 * If not stayed, the Judge says the charges would have resulted in a trafficking conviction.

THE NEWS WEEKENDER April 26, 2002
Note Much smaller publication, local weekend paper, should backup info with other sources.


 * Mark Russell is the founder of the Coombs chapter of the Cannabis Buyers Club of Canada
 * Federal health minister Anne McLellan has indicated the medical marijuana must go through clinical trials before it will be released to the public.

Victoria Times-Colonist July 18, 2002

 * Ted Smith, 33, informed city council of his intention of running for mayor after expressing frustration over the city's approach to his business, which attempts to provide pot to medical users.
 * Ted currently faces six drug trafficking charges and his Cannabis Buyers Club of Canada has been raided by city police four times.

Victoria Times-Colonist Jan. 16, 2005

 * Smith's Cannabis Buyers' Club works out of a storefront on Johnson.
 * Ted and Philip Lucas once worked together, helping operate a network to ensure sick or disabled people had access to marijuana till about 1999 when Lucas left to start a new group where a doctors recommendation was needed, whereas Ted only wanted proof of illness or disability.
 * Smith grew up in Cambridge, ON.
 * His father worked for a trucking company and most of his uncles, aunts and cousins are farmers.
 * Smith moved west to get away from a place where he was losing control over alcohol.
 * His political activism began soon after with Inner City Youth Works, and he went on head up the Victoria Street Community Association, two groups that later collapsed.
 * Ted become involved in medical marijuana advocacy, beginning in 1996 from an apartment.
 * Ted was known as "acid-head Ted".
 * Smith's Cannabis Buyer's Club has a membership list of 1,800, an estimated 60 per cent of whom live on disability pensions.
 * The club has a little back room where members smoke cannabis.

Cannabis Culture Magazine August 2002 Issue #38

 * The CBCoC was first raided in January 2002, after a black-listed former member brought police to the door. (see CC Issue #36 article Med-pot news for more info)
 * The police came again on March 21 and took about $12,000 worth of med-pot. Smith was thrown in jail, only released on bail a few hours later.
 * Quote Ted Smith "I realized that we had to get the support of politicans or they were going to keep coming... On March 28, nine of us went to City Council and filled them in on who we are and where we are going. We told them that we know the police were going to go after our business license, the Mayor was forced to admit that a meeting with police was scheduled, and the CBCoC was the topic of discussion. After the meeting became public knowledge, everyone wanted to attend, and it had to be moved to [a public forum]."
 * At the April 2 meeting between City Council and the police, Ted Smith and friends.
 * The police application to remove Smith’s business license was rejected
 * City decided to contact Health Canada and ask how sick people were supposed to get cannabis medicine.
 * A week later, Victoria city councilors spoke strongly in favor of decriminalization and drafted a letter to the Federal Council of Municipalities asking them to put pressure on the federal government to stop enforcing laws against med-pot users and clubs.
 * On April 22(2002), officers raided the club and seized another quarter-pound of pot. Later that same night, thieves broke in and took $500 from the club’s legal self-defense fund.