LIQUIDATION SALE?
Dispensaries’ future cloudy
Two wonderfully stocked vending machines line up against the walls, almost every conceivable pot product sits under glass at the counter, varieties of weed — from bulk supplies that cost as little as $5 a gram to premium product that goes for $11 a gram — sit in beakers, stoppers keeping their rich aromas from perfuming the shop.
And what will become of it all come Oct. 17, when the federal Cannabis Act comes into force? Who knows.
“I don’t think anyone knows what will happen, basically,” a clerk at one cannabis outlet said. “I’ve heard that seven days after Oct. 17, all our stock must be gone.”
Can you say “Clearance sale! Everything must go?”
Like almost everyone Postmedia News talked to inside Vancouver cannabis stores — staff, managers, customers — this clerk did not want to draw attention to herself or her outlet by providing her name.
But from what she has heard, she said once the legislation kicks in, supply will be limited to relatively weak and unknown strains, while the government-set price will be high.
“Basically, that will just push people back into the black market,” she said.
Confusion reigns.
Only one pot dispensary in British Columbia has been approved to open on Oct. 17, and an extensive survey of local governments and cannabis consultants by Postmedia reporter Nick Eagland discovered that despite the fact the federal legislation was a campaign promise made by the federal Liberals in 2015, the province and municipalities have been slow to react.
It could take 18 months to jump through all the hoops and untangle the red tape involved in the application process to sell bricks-andmortar retail pot.
Further complicating matters, municipal elections will be held three days after the federal legislation becomes law.
At one pot outlet, a staff member said the store expected it had to get rid of not just all its bud and cones — goodbye Island Sweet Skunk, UBC Chemo, B.C. Bud God, Mountain Jam, Texada Timewarp — but also accessories such as distillate kits, suppositories for menstrual pain, vape cartridges, cannabis shaving cream, skin ointment, you name it. But many shop staff who talked to Postmedia said as long as they have a business licence, they’ll stay open.
One customer who isn’t worried about supply drying up after Oct. 17 is 19-year-old Isaac Mayville of Coquitlam, who came into the Eggs Canna store on Commercial Drive.
“Not by any means,” he said. “But the part I wonder about is stuff like security cameras, the ways they’ll test for driving, and I think it will hit growers more than the shops.
“I think a lot of places that are grey market will keep running, depending on how shady they are. I’m not too worried, to be honest, but who knows?”
Indeed.
“It won’t make you high at all,” one clerk told a customer on Wednesday, someone who was looking for pain relief. “It’s like a strong muscle relaxant, you’ll just feel so relaxed.”
We’ll know down the road if this sort of scene will be allowed to be repeated in storefronts across the province.
I think a lot of places that are grey market will keep running, depending on how shady they are. I’m not too worried.