Application for medical pot store in Chinatown withdrawn
One of two applications for legal cannabis stores in Calgary’s Chinatown has been withdrawn after members of the cultural community held a rally opposing the stores on the weekend.
Dr. John Huang, a “lifelong Calgarian and proud ChineseCanadian,” said he has scrapped plans for a medical cannabis clinic near Centre Street and 4th Avenue S.W. after learning Chinatown residents and a community advocacy group opposed the development.
Huang, an eye surgeon, said the dispensary would have provided “non-THC, CBD oil” to treat chronic pain and would have been “meant purely for medical use.”
But at Saturday’s rally, event organizers the Calgary Chinese Union voiced concerns that cannabis stores could hurt business and have a negative effect on the Chinatown community. They also said cannabis use goes against cultural values of Chinatown residents.
Huang said the group did not approach him before the rally and said he only learned of the backlash through Postmedia’s coverage.
Terry Wong, executive director of the Chinatown District Business Improvement Area, said many Chinatown businesses share the Calgary Chinese Union’s worries.
Wong took those concerns to Huang on Saturday, saying he withdrew the application because of the proposed location’s proximity to schools and a “respect for the influence on the Chinatown culture district.” “It is a viable business, it is a legal business — no doubt about it. But in this region, the Chinatown culture is more important than operating a cannabis location,” Wong said.
But Huang said the community may not have had such a negative reaction to his application if they had approached him about his intentions or if the city had a way to differentiate recreational applications from medical use applications.
Huang said he has no plans to open a dispensary at another location. And even though he took a financial hit pulling the application, Huang said he is “not the victim here.”
“The victims are the people being denied access to medicines they might need,” he said, adding some of Chinatown’s elderly population “may very well need CBD oil” for medical use.
There is still one active cannabis store application for Chinatown on 1st Street S.E., just off Riverfront Avenue.