Kitchener, Waterloo to allow pot stores

Councils say retail shops will mean safer product, help stem illegal trade

WATERLOO REGION— Kitchener and Waterloo will welcome legal pot shops, arguing it will provide a safer product and help fight the illegal drug trade. But it’s still unclear when the cities might see cannabis storefronts. Ontario has approved just seven pot shops to open across western Ontario in April, in an area that stretches from Windsor to Niagara and up to Manitoulin.

Potential operators were revealed Friday but their plans, locations and backgrounds won’t be known until after Jan. 22, the deadline for municipalities to vote on whether they will allow retail pot shops. Both Waterloo and Kitchener councils unanimously endorsed retail operations Monday.

“The black market, it wreaks havoc on people’s lives,” Waterloo Coun. Tenille Bonoguore said. She’s persuaded that weed will be safer if purchased legally from a regulated storefront.

“To me, it’s like buying your alcohol or getting your cigarettes,” Waterloo Coun. Angela Vieth said.

Allowing pot shops has several benefits, said Kitchener Coun. Bil Ioannidis. “If we have legally operational storefronts, we have a regulated supply, it’ll pay sales tax, it’ll pay property taxes, it’ll create jobs and it will restrict sales (of cannabis) to youth.”

Both cities are calling on the province to locate stores at least 150 metres from shelters and social services serving youth, addiction counselling services, community centres, libraries and rec centres, and other pot shops.

Waterloo will ask that pots shops be located at least 150 metres from post-secondary institutions, child care centres and playgrounds.