Windsor hosts pop-up market for pot as legalization looms
All manner of cannabis products on display at impromptu bazaar
Trafficking in marijuana is still illegal in Canada and punishable by imprisonment, but that didn’t stop local pot purveyors from organizing a pop-up “Friendly Market” in Windsor on Sunday.
A potpourri of pot products from a dozen different vendors, and all containing different cannabis components, were available for purchase during the impromptu drug market that ran for five hours in Ford City. It took place in a historic building, the exact location of which was only advertised 24 hours in advance on select social media sites.
Tina Kennedy, a supporter of the market, said everyone should have access to alternative medication if they want it.
“It doesn’t hurt anybody,” said Kennedy. “There isn’t anything that says cannabis has killed anybody, or led to domestic violence.” The local market, which operates one day per month during the summer, is “a friendly event with no judgments. We want to bring happiness to everyone who comes in contact with us,” she added. The Friendly Market is always held in a different Windsor location, but this was the first time the event popped up outside downtown. The owner of Sunday’s host establishment asked that the name or exact location not be published. One of the event’s organizers, who asked that his name not be used to protect his chances of eventually going legit and getting a private cannabis retail vending licence, said he got the idea for the event from Toronto’s Green Market. Hundreds of cannabis enthusiasts flock to such pop-up events in the provincial capital.
He held the event in Windsor for several months in 2017 and decided to do it again this summer after Ottawa pushed back its originally announced July 1 startup date for the legalization of recreational pot to Oct. 17.
“We get a lot of positive feedback afterwards,” he said of the market. Several customers told him they can only find the products they need at the event.
Market vendors are professionally trained in chemistry and culinary arts, he said, adding they all want to break into the legal market with products like oils, lollipops, tea bags, fruit juice and more. The products on sale were sourced from across Canada.
“We don’t really sell a lot of weed here, honestly,” said the organizer, referring to the psychoactive THCcontaining marijuana flower. “It’s mostly older people buying medical products.” Customers — there were about a dozen during the opening hour on Sunday — seem to want medical products like edible oils the most, since street dealers don’t offer that and they can be difficult to find online, he said.
The newly-elected Tory government under Doug Ford is expected to announce this week that Ontario’s pot retail market will be opened to the private sector. The previous Liberal government under Kathleen Wynne, which was defeated in last month’s provincial election, had been working towards a system in which adults could only purchase pot online or at government-run stores.
Windsor was to host one of 40 such LCBO -style retail locations in Ontario in the first year of legalization.
Details of how the private sector involvement would work in a system that has to be in place in just over two months are still unknown.
Although he hopes to open his own business, Sunday’s pop-up market organizer was weary of how the Ford government might implement privatization. “Privatization could still mean a beer store model where you have to have a corporation, and it’s not really private in my opinion,” he said.
He also hopes Windsor’s municipal government doesn’t get in the way with too many bylaw restrictions. As it is, he said entrepreneurs, under the Liberal plan, were in a mad dash to buy up real estate over the 500-metre proposed minimum setback from schools.
“Windsor could be a hotbed,” he said. “I would like to see Windsor succeed off it. I would like us to not fall behind.”
One customer at Sunday ’s event, who, for perhaps understandable reasons, did not want to be named, said she has a doctor-prescribed medical marijuana card. She and her spouse have been attending the local Friendly Market since its inception.
“It’s just easy to be able to have a variety of things and not worry about having it delivered to your house,” she said.
Under current Health Canada regulations, those with medical marijuana prescriptions from a medical doctor must order from one of just over 100 federally licensed producers, like Leamington’s Aphria Inc.
The couple used to have cannabis products ordered online sent to their doorstep, but after a stranger signed for and stole their package, they decided to
The only issue is where you can smoke it now ... I don’t want to get hassled if I’m standing out with the cigarette smokers, or even in my own backyard.
stop. Now, they have to drive to the post office and pick up purchases in person.
They enjoy sampling new products at the market and look forward to legalization making purchasing more convenient. “You can just drive to the store, get it, and go home,” said the woman. “You don’t have to wait for it in the mail.”
She hopes to see lighter smoking restrictions for cannabis users soon. Her backyard looks onto school property, so she can’t legally smoke her medication outside the house.
“The only issue is where you can smoke it now with all the new rules coming in,” she said. “I don’t want to get hassled if I’m standing out with the cigarette smokers, or even in my own backyard.
“You can buy it, you can have it, you can possess it, you just can’t smoke it anywhere.”