Illegal pot shops flourish in Ottawa

Ontario’s attorney general has warned that illegal marijuana dispensaries will be closed across the province, but potpreneurs in Ottawa don’t seem to be getting the message.

At least 19 pot shops are still operating in the city, with a couple opening in the past few weeks.

At one of the new stores, Cannada’s Culture on Baseline Road, plans are afoot to open a lounge, too, where consumers could smoke or vape weed.

One of the rooms inside is reserved for the lounge, but it’s unclear when it will open, said Leanne Wilson. She was working behind a desk in the lobby, screening a steady stream of customers to make sure they were 19 and followed the security rules before entering the locked room where the cannabis is stored. “Cellphones in pocket, ( ball) caps on backwards, please,” she called out.

Wilson said she’s a volunteer and doesn’t know who

I thought marijuana was legal already. I’ve seen so many shops everywhere, and I’ve seen so many people smoking it outside.

owns the store. It’s busy because it’s the only dispensary in the west end of Ottawa, she said, and because it’s a stone’s throw from Algonquin College.

Since it opened in January, police have visited Cannada’s Culture only once, said Wilson — after a disruptive customer who had been asked to leave phoned 911 to complain he wasn’t being allowed to shop at the illegal store.

Ottawa police have conducted multiple raids on dispensaries, but many just reopen and new ones pop up.

Another new store, Cannabis Nature on Somerset Street West in Chinatown, features a crude takeout window carved out of the drywall. It also offers home delivery for $5.

When the 25-year-old clerk on duty was asked whether police had been by, he looked surprised. “Why would they?” The man said he didn’t realize the shop was operating illegally.

“I thought marijuana was legal already. I’ve seen so many shops everywhere, and I’ve seen so many people smoking it outside.”

The clerk said he heard about the job through a friend. He decided to take time off from studying to finish Grade 12 at the nearby adult high school to earn some money. He said he’s paid $9 an hour, cash. The minimum wage is $14.

The clerk referred questions to another man he thought might be the manager. That man, in a brief telephone conversation before he said he had to go and hung up, said he was not the manager, but had been hired to work at the shop by a “Caucasian man in his 40s” who said he was the owner but did not give employees his name.

On Preston Street, the popular GreenTree dispensary closed weeks ago, but appears to be getting ready to reopen under another name. There’s a new sign on the building saying “CannaLife,” and renovations are underway inside.