By John Colebourn, The Province Source: Province At the very moment the federal health minister was discussing medicinal marijuana with B.C.'s "compassion clubs," police were raiding the club's supply. About 1,000 marijuana plants were chopped down and hauled away from the club's grow operation at a greenhouse in Richmond on Tuesday -- the same day the group met with Health Minister Allan Rock to discuss the distribution of medical marijuana. The club's founder thinks Rock deliberately had the Mounties haul away their stash. "Can you believe it -- holy irony, eh?" Hilary Black said after the bust. Black said Rock had requested a meeting with members of the B.C Compassion Club Society to discuss the operation's distribution of marijuana to those in medical need. Black said that, while she was talking with Rock and his assistant David Herferd, she received a phone call informing her that one of the club's contracted production sites was being raided by police. She says 1,000 plants seized by police would have supplied the club's 1,400 members with low- cost, high-quality medicinal cannabis. Black noted the bust followed close on the heels of Rock's announcement that Ottawa will begin clinical trials of medicinal marijuana. "It seems like two hands of the government doing different things," she said. The club is supplied by 12 growers who sign a cultivation contract. The growers cannot sell to anyone else and agree to visits from the club's inspectors who make sure the pot is organically grown. The pot raid was at the research farm of Dr. Paul Hornby. Hornby, a herbal medicine researcher, has a licence from Health Canada to possess and produce cannabis. The address on his licence was that of his lab, but the greenhouse is located on his research farm. Hornby is upset at the treatment he received from the RCMP. "They held my five-year-old son and 65-year-old mother-in-law at gunpoint," he said. Two volunteer gardeners along with Hornby were arrested and likely face drug charges. "It's such a heartbreak," said Black. "It's the only place we can get herb that's not criminally priced." Note: Plants destroyed as compassion club leaders met with Allan Rock. Source: Province, The (CN BC) Author: John Colebourn The Province Published: Thursday, April 12, 2001 Copyright: 2001 The Province Contact: provedpg@pacpress.southam.ca Website: http://www.vancouverprovince.com/ Related Articles & Web Site: The Compassion Club http://www.thecompassionclub.org/