Pot police not ready yet for action
City threatens illegal shops with contempt-of-court proceedings
B.C.’s new pot cops will not be raiding Vancouver’s illegal marijuana stores anytime soon. According to a statement from the Ministry of Public Safety, the Community Safety Unit isn’t yet operational.
“It is too early to confirm operational details such as spokesperson, the reporting structure, the total number of investigators or other positions,” the statement read. “The CSU is actively recruiting to fill all positions and a number of competitions are currently underway.”
The CSU is being created to enforce the B.C. government’s rules and regulations around the legal use and purchase of marijuana. Enforcement officers will be able to go into suspected illegal pot shops without a warrant, seize product and issue fines.
The news may be a relief for the 20 or so illegal pot shops still operating in Vancouver, however, lawyer Kyla Lee said they should be worried about City of Vancouver plans to use a recent B.C. Supreme Court ruling against them. That ruling came after dozens of illegal pot shops claimed the city had no right to govern their operations.
In December, the court ruled in favour of the city, paving the way for the city to issue injunctions forcing their closure. On Tuesday, the high-profile Cannabis Culture chain announced it would close three of its Vancouver locations by Jan. 30.
“It looks like the city is going to be applying for injunctions to keep the shops from operating and they’ve threatened that they are going to be giving people jail time,” Lee said. She added that getting someone put in jail for contempt-ofcourt on a bylaw offence is a lot more difficult than for a Supreme Court injunction.
Lee was referring to jail terms given to several anti-pipeline protesters who were arrested at the Kinder Morgan site in Burnaby, including Vancouver city Coun. Jean Swanson.
In a prepared statement, the city said it had been working with illegal operators to “ensure they fully understand and agree to be compliant and are establishing timelines to close.”
“At this time, we do know that some of the stores are intending to close and have advised the city as such. Should there be non-compliance with the court order, it is open to the city to commence contempt-of-court proceedings to obtain compliance with the court’s order.”
Lee said it was very unlikely that the Vancouver police would be involved in closing pot shops. Vancouver currently has three legal marijuana stores.
In its statement, the CSU did warn that while it is “not yet operational, illegal retailers that do not obtain a provincial licence will have to close and as more legal retail stores open across the province, you can expect to see increasing enforcement action by the Community Safety Unit.”
Lee said that when the CSU is operational, likely in the spring, it would be interesting to see how they deal with the pot shops in Vancouver that aren’t licensed by the B.C. government, but are able to operate under the city’s rules. The pot shops that went to court were the ones that didn’t abide by the city’s rules created in 2016.