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Marigold customers show support for Sanchez

Emotions run high with news of dispensary closure
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Empty pharmaceutical shelves are seen behind the welcome sign at Marigold Compounding Natural Pharmacy after the College of Pharmacists of BC confiscated all of Rudy Sanchez’s pharmaceutical inventory.

Robert Hartman suffers from arthritis.

Aspirin and other painkillers weren’t helping, so the Courtenay resident turned to Marigold Compounding Natural Pharmacy for something different. Owner Rudy Sanchez recommended turmeric in capsule form as an anti-inflammatory.

Hartman got results, but when he stopped taking it, the pain increased. So he “re-dosed” and “got results that I can see.”

He also credits Sanchez for recommending a zinc oxide salve that “worked beautifully” for an itch.

Hartman was disappointed last week when the College of Pharmacists of BC shut down Marigold due to safety and health concerns. For the second time, the college has suspended Sanchez, this time until further notice. He had also been suspended in 2010.

“I was a doubter, really, or an agnostic,” said Hartman, who had felt health food stores and herbalists were more to do with baking soda and placebo effects. “My gut feeling on this is that it is maybe big pharma or drug stores attacking a little man. I don’t think he’s a dangerous practitioner.”

Customers disappointed

Sharon Zwickel of Black Creek was emotional when she found out she could no longer have prescriptions filled at Marigold.

“I have a genetic disorder, so I have to take special vitamins,” she said, at the 576 England Ave. location on Monday. “I have been taking them for a month, and the improvement has been mind-boggling. Rudy made it so that I only have to take two capsules a day, instead of taking five different things. I’m feeling so much better, but if I can’t take these supplements, I am going to be right back where I started.”