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Health board member busted for illegal substances
By Hempology | January 23, 2008
Regina Leader-Post, SN
19 Jan 2008
Janet French and Mark Ferguson
HEALTH BOARD MEMBER FACES DRUG CHARGES
SASKATOON — A member of the Saskatoon Regional Health Authority faces drug charges after police seized more than $200,000 worth of illegal substances Thursday night.
Eric Braun, who’s also president of the 25th Street Theatre Centre, covered his face and wordlessly rushed past reporters outside provincial court Friday afternoon after his first court appearance on several drug charges.
Meanwhile, provincial Health Minister Don McMorris said Braun should do the honourable thing and resign from the board, which controls more than $700 million of public health money annually.
“We’re not going to convict him through my office until the legal process works its way through,” McMorris said.
Should Braun be convicted, “he’ll no longer be serving on the board, and will not be eligible to serve on the board in the future,” McMorris said. “We’ll be very swift to move at that point.”
Saskatoon police say the Saskatoon integrated drug unit searched an apartment on the 500 block of 5th Avenue North on Thursday night. Officers found more than three kilograms of marijuana, 65 grams of cocaine and crack cocaine, 200 grams of hash, and more than $23,000. They arrested a 54-year-old man, and a 30-year-old man who showed up at the apartment with about a kilogram of marijuana in his possession.
Court documents show Braun is charged with possession of more than $25,000, at least $5,000 of which is a proceed of crime, possession of psilocybin ( commonly known as magic mushrooms ), possession of less than a gram of cannabis resin, and possession of cannabis resin, marijuana, and cocaine for the purposes of trafficking.
“I’m shell-shocked,” said health region board vice-chairwoman Carol Teichrob after hearing the news, adding she has known Braun for years.
She referred all further questions to the government, as the health minister is responsible for appointing health board members.
“You’re innocent until you’re proven guilty,” Teichrob added.
A Saskatoon Health Region spokesperson also referred all calls to the health ministry on Friday.
Saskatoon Northwest MLA Serge LeClerc, a recovered addict and addictions counsellor, says the likely street value of the quantity of drugs police seized is more than $200,000.
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