B.C. cities push ahead with pot-shop rules

Federal promises seen as positive, but future of dispensaries uncertain

VANCOUVER — The election of Justin Trudeau’s Liberals was a cause for jubilation at Eden Medicinal Society’s five marijuana dispensaries across Vancouver.

“We went into the election hoping that people would be able to see through the anti-pot ideology, see the evidence that has mounted, and it appears that they did,” said Eden spokesman Danny Kresnyak. “Our reaction is obviously very positive.”

He hopes Trudeau will move quickly on his promise to legalize recreational pot, and that at least some of the approximately 120 illegal dispensaries now operating in Vancouver will be a part of that.

“We’re pushing forward best practices, and we would like to invite Mr. Trudeau to our locations to show him how the dispensary model can work,” Kresnyak said.

But while the country waits to see when and how the new government will bring in legalization, shops like Eden face an uncertain future as B.C. municipalities forge their own paths for dealing with the blossoming industry.

In Vancouver, Mayor Gregor Robertson has pledged that the Liberal victory would not affect the city’s dispensary regulation scheme, a two-tiered licensing system aimed at weeding out for-profit dispensaries in favour of non-profit compassion clubs.

And the mayor made good on that promise this week, when the city gave the green light to just 11 of 176 dispensaries that have applied for licences, allowing them to continue with the application process. The remaining 165 shops did not meet the requirements for minimum distances from schools, recreation centres and other dispensaries.

Kresnyak refused to comment on the status of Eden’s applications with the city, but at least one other dispensary owner is considering suing over the process.

A few other cities across B.C. are throwing their might behind Vancouver, with some, like Kimberley, starting to allow compassion clubs, which provide medical marijuana to patients. Victoria and Burnaby are studying Vancouver’s regulations.

Victoria council will consider a proposal for some form of regulation of its dispensaries next month, Mayor Lisa Helps said. Maple Ridge has had a huge jump in dispensaries and treats them as illegal, but Mayor Nicole Read said all that could change if the Liberals make pot legal.

Vancouver’s approach to dealing with dispensaries matches that of Seattle, which also licensed illegal pot shops before Washington state residents voted to legalize marijuana in 2012.

Still, the Seattle example doesn’t necessarily bode well for weed retailers, according to Tonia Winchester, a Washington state lawyer who worked on the citizens’ coalition to legalize the drug.

“Dispensaries are no longer legal [in Seattle] and they actually never were legal. So, dispensaries have been given notice that they need to shut down,” Winchester said.

Some of those shops may be allowed to reopen, but first they’ll have to apply to the state’s liquor and cannabis board for a medical endorsement, which would allow them to sell to medical marijuana customers only. Recreational marijuana can only be purchased legally at licensed retail stores that started opening in 2014.

But Miles Light, co-founder of the Marijuana Policy Group in Denver, believes Vancouver doesn’t necessarily need to follow Seattle’s path. He thinks the city is well positioned to get a head start on legal pot sales if the existing dispensaries are allowed to become legitimate.

“You don’t want to reward illegal activity, but you have to be pragmatic.”

Many B.C. cities, such as Abbotsford and Surrey, say they have no plans to change their restrictive bylaws on medical marijuana outlets. Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore said the city does not have the legal authority to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries and the RCMP will shut down those operating illegally.