Trafficking charges dropped against former Tribal ReLeaf dispensary workers

Trafficking charges against two former employees of Tribal ReLeaf, an on-reserve cannabis dispensary,were dropped Thursday.

Co-accused Gerald Bear and Tina Marie Sappier-Bear pleaded not guilty in late August to five cannabis trafficking charges after a raid on the dispensary, now called Tribal, inTobique First Nation.

For the charges to be dropped, the married couple chose to pleadguilty toan amended charge of possession ofcannabisnot exceeding three kilograms.

Bear, who was the manager of Tribal ReLeaf, saidhe wasn't willing to comment on the developments yet butwould "have a story to tell" after sentencing, which is scheduled for May 31.

The two were originally charged with trafficking cannabis exceeding three kilograms, cannabis resin exceedingthree kilograms and cannabis resin not exceeding three kilograms, possessing proceeds of crime not exceeding $5,000 and possession of cannabis exceeding three kilograms.

Judge Brian C. McLean thanked Crown lawyer Len MacKay for coming to a resolution and sparing the courts theweek-long trial that was originally scheduled.

In the fall of 2017, RCMP raiding Tribal ReLeafencountered a blockadeset up by members of the community, about 85 kilometres north of Woodstock.

The raid brought onassertions of sovereignty by Tobique, since chief and council had passed a motion to allow the sale of cannabis on the reserve even before the drug was legalized by the federal government.

Chief Ross Perley of Tobique First Nation previously said that even though Bear and Sappier-Bear do not work for the dispensary now, the community stood bythem and their right to sell cannabis.

Only government-operated cannabis stores are allowed to sell cannabis products in New Brunswick. Since last year, another on-reserve cannabis store opened up in Oromocto First Nation, which started as a branch ofTribal ReLeaf but recently changed its name to Welamukotuk Wellness.

Tribal has stayed open throughout the case.