Courtenay’s mayor reeling from death threats following marijuana dispensary raid

CHEK

Warning: Story and video contains graphic language.

Courtenay’s mayor is shaken and worried for his safety in the wake of targeted death threats against him, but he says he’s not backing down against the marijuana dispensary that started it all. Skye Ryan reports. 

Larry Jangula has been flooded with angry phone calls since RCMP raided the newly opened marijuana dispensary in Courtenay.

Larry Jangula never expected that standing up against an illegal marijuana dispensary would ignite such anger in Courtenay.

“Well I was quite shocked,” says Courtenay’s Mayor. “I mean I thought man this is way above and beyond anger about a bylaw. This is personal. I mean this is a direct threat to me,” said Jangula.

The calls and emails started Wednesday hours after the Leaf Compassion on Courtenay’s 4th Street was raided by RCMP. The marijuana dispensary that opened Sunday without a business license was told council was not willing to grant approval to until federal laws were changed.

READ MORE: Comox Valley RCMP execute search warrant at newly-opened pot shop

That’s when Jangula says Leaf’s supporters began to attack.

“Hey a**holes if you wanna waste tax dollars I’ll come by and get a free f**ckin handout,” yells a man on one voicemail message Jangula played for CHEK News. “Since you wanna pay RCMP officers by the hour to stand on some f**cking dispensary where people are getting their lives saves, you’re an f**cking douche bag dinosaur,” continues the message.

“Wake the f**ck up. You f**cking a**hole. Guess what you jerk. Your f**cking prohibition with marijuana shouldn’t have been started in the first place. It’s a**holes like you that wanna keep it going should be f**cking shot. Your community doesn’t want this f**ck off!” it continues.

“I think he made his message pretty clear, didn’t he,” said Jangula.

Leaf’s owner says the threats didn’t come from his staff.

I think it’s very unfortunate with the death threats we definitely don’t condone that. We haven’t told anybody to say anything like that,” said Kyle Cheyne.

Kyle Cheyne does admit he posted contact information of the mayor and council through social media, urging supporters to help them change their minds.

“It’s public I did not post anything that’s not public,” said Cheyne. “I talked to my lawyer before anything even happened when we opened.”

Neither side appears to be backing down. The raided dispensary re-opened in Courtenay Friday in defiance, expecting to be visited by police again at any time.

” Yeah 100 per cent,” said Leaf employee Allison Zimmerman. “I mean I’ve been feeling nauseous all morning but I mean we’re doing it for the right reasons.”

Leaf is clearly bringing the fight to Courtenay’s typically quiet, small town but Larry Jangula is ready for it. The one thing this 27 year veteran of the RCMP knows how to do is hold ground, especially when it’s on his own doorstep.

Skye RyanSkye Ryan

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