A man from Moncton, New Brunswick, has received a $3,250 fine for selling cannabis without a licence after recently entering a guilty plea.
Jason Robert Lebourque, 46, entered the plea in provincial court on July 2. He has one year to pay the fine.
Lebourque was arrested following raids of two unlicensed cannabis stores in 2023: A Touch of Grey Lounge, 281 Collishaw St., and Three Kings Medicinals, 190 Halifax St. in Moncton.
Law enforcement says the same charge against a Moncton woman was withdrawn. Lebourque was arrested as the owner, and the woman was arrested as an employee of the first business.
At the first business on Collishaw, a 44-year-old woman and a 45-year-old man were reported as arrested and subsequently released pending further investigation.
At the second business on Halifax St, a 53-year-old woman, Corrine Frances Courtney of Boundary Creek, was arrested and subsequently released pending further investigation.
Courtney recently pleaded not guilty to possession of cannabis for the purpose of selling it without being authorized to do so. A three-day trial is scheduled for July 2025.
In an image that was shared with media at the time, an array of cannabis products, from dried flower and pre-rolls to flavoured vape pens, edibles, and cash, are visible.
New Brunswick recently passed legislation to give its peace officers more powers to enforce provincial cannabis rules. A representative with the province says more than 100 illegal cannabis stores are operating there as of April 1. Despite this new bill, the province maintains that it cannot enforce its cannabis rules on businesses operating in First Nations communities and reserves.
Peace officers with New Brunswick’s Department of Justice and Public Safety arrested two people and seized contraband cannabis products from a dispensary in Saint John while executing a search warrant on June 19.
Peace officers also arrested two people in two separate raids in Moncton in early May and two more in a raid in Saint John later the same month. Officers arrested one person in a similar raid in Bathurst in April. In addition, seven were arrested in three raids in Saint John and Moncton in April.
In March, peace officers with the New Brunswick Department of Justice and Public Safety arrested two people and seized contraband cannabis and other illegal products from two unlicensed cannabis stores.
The province has recently announced several new licensed cannabis locations, including one on Germain Street in Saint John, intending to supplant these types of unlicensed stores.
