Councillors want marijuana shop crackdown
Advocates say one way or another, private dispensaries are here to stay
The number of illegal storefront pot shops in Hamilton is growing even as police raids continue, municipal zoning charges pile up in court and the province moves to take over retail marijuana sales next year.
The trend is prompting some councillors to call for a renewed police crackdown — but dispensary advocates and patients argue politicians should recognize the private marijuana outlets are here to stay — with or without a legal blessing.
Coun. Doug Conley will bring forward a motion Wednesday appealing to Hamilton police for help, noting at least 19 marijuana dispensaries remain open despite a municipal bylaw crackdown that has so far resulted in 45 “non-compliance” notifications and 31 charges before the courts, mostly related to illegal zoning.
Licensing director Ken Leendertse said despite the closure of around 10 pot shops due to city or police charges, new pot shops are continually popping up. He estimates there are closer
to 25 operating establishments, but “this number is changing weekly.”
Leendertse added municipal inspectors are probing three apparent newcomers on James Street, Ottawa Street and in Dundas.
Conley said the trend is particularly troubling given the province’s plan to take over retail sales of marijuana next July. Attorney General Yasir Naqvi warned earlier this week the province would take measures to ensure freelance retail outlets are shut down.
“But we can’t just wait around while they become more and more entrenched,” said Conley, who expressed frustration at the city’s inability to force a Stoney Creek outlet to close. “We’ve tried going through the courts, but we (the city) can’t do it.”
The city tried earlier this year via an injunction request to force the shutdown of the Hamilton Village Dispensary and a vapour lounge in the same building based on zoning and other bylaw violations.
The court agreed to shut down the vapour lounge, but in an interim decision refused to allow the city to permanently shutter the dispensary, instead allowing it to stay open so long as it served only medicinal pot to patients with prescriptions. The case will be back in court in December.
Police continue to periodically raid various dispensaries, laying charges and seizing illegal drugs. But in some cases, those outlets reopen with new product days later.
Hamilton police expect new provincial legislation dealing with retail sales will “make it easier” for police to keep pop-up pot shops from reopening, said Coun. Lloyd Ferguson, who chairs the Hamilton Police Services Board. “Do we need to keep at them? Absolutely,” he said. “But we’re looking for those (legislative) tools, as well.”
Britney Guerra, who owns the now-closed vapour lounge above the Hamilton Village Dispensary, said the eventual court decision on the city’s injunction request could end up being a win for private dispensaries if it legalizes the sale of medical pot from the location.
Regardless, she argued private operators are here to stay.
“This industry always adapts,” she said. “The need (for marijuana users) is far greater than anything the province has planned.”
Tamara Hirsch, spokesperson for two Pacifico pot outlets in Hamilton, echoed that belief in an earlier interview, suggesting dispensary operators see police raids as a “cost of doing business” in a pioneering industry that outpaces evolving regulations.
City and police pressure have forced some closures, however.
Cory Kaus once helped run Bright Moments, a popular downtown dispensary that closed after one of the earliest police raids more than a year ago.“It was frustrating for me as a patient and an advocate,” said Kaus, who started using medical marijuana to deal with pain and nerve damage from a knee injury.
Kaus later volunteered at the shop. He thinks the province and federal government will eventually realize how “unrealistic” it is to limit retail shops to government control and force medical users to rely on mail-order pot.
He said he suspects the sheer cost of competing with — and cracking down on — black market outlets in competition with the LCBO-run stores will eventually force a government rethink.
“It’s inevitable they will see it is a huge fumble,” he said. “But in the meantime, patients will suffer, people will lose access to medicine that they need. And that’s sad.”