Vancouver’s proposed pot rules miss the obvious
Report plugging regulations peddles bogus notion sales are for medical purposes only
VANCOUVER — Contrary to rumour and reputation, this is an aggressively entrepreneurial city. A hub of commerce and industry, free of job-killing red tape and bureaucratic meddling. Well, not really. But Vancouver is home to at least one phenomenally successful, unfettered growth industry: retail cannabis.
These are high times for Lotusland pot dealers. The local market is unregulated, lawless and (reluctantly) tolerated by city officials. No surprise, the scene is getting crowded.
Three years ago, there were around 20 marijuana dispensaries in the city. By January this year, another 40 shops were in business. Today, more than 80 unlicensed, unregulated dispensaries compete for pot smokers in Vancouver, according to city officials.
The number of weed vendors is staggering, especially given that the trade remains illegal in Canada. Local dealers and growers have happily exploited the City of Vancouver’s confusion and indecision over marijuana matters such as local law enforcement, statute interpretation and jurisdiction, and municipal zoning. None of the city’s 80-plus pot shops operate with a local business licence.
At last, some simple fixes are coming. On Tuesday, city councillors examined a report from Vancouver’s chief licence inspector and its general manager of planning and development services; they recommend a unique and long overdue regulatory scheme for local marijuana retailers.
Regulations proposed in the report include new zoning, bylaw and business licence requirements for local pot shops; enforceable public health, safety and fire code provisions; criminal background checks for retail operators and their employees; a ban on dispensaries located within 300 metres of a school or community centre; a ban on sales to minors and storefront advertising; and rules preventing retail shops from “clustering” or concentrating in one area.
Council agreed Tuesday on sending the recommendations to a public hearing for community input.
Some Vancouver residents have come to accept the city’s ad hoc, hands-off approach, and many argue that in-store sales reduce the pot trade’s criminal element. But there are downsides. In my residential neighbourhood, for example, a “dispensary” opened on a side street, directly across from a grade school, a library and a community centre. Why? Because it could.
It could not happen in officially pot-legal U.S. states such as Washington and Colorado, where rules prohibit retail marijuana outlets from operating next to schools.
Vancouver’s proposed rule changes are far from draconian, but they aren’t perfect, either. The city report doesn’t address sticky issues such as illegal wholesale marijuana production and distribution — presumably because such matters fall outside municipal jurisdiction, and are more easily ignored than considered.
Worse perhaps, the report peddles the bogus notion that Vancouver’s 80-plus pot shops sell their product for medical purposes only, to ailing customers clutching legitimate doctors’ notes and valid “prescriptions.” This is ludicrous. The recreational-use market far exceeds any “health-care” segment, and accounts for the spike in storefront openings. Incredibly, there’s not a word in the report about this dominant market, and what to do about it, if anything.
Instead, says the report, the surge in local marijuana retail sales “may be due to various studies that have found that marijuana provides health benefits including relief from chronic pain, mitigation of antiretroviral therapy-related nausea, benefits to those suffering from multiple sclerosis, and to control symptoms of bipolar disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.” The report does strive for some balance on the health side, noting that “some concerns” are attached to marijuana use.
Sure to be contentious is the report’s proposed $30,000 annual licence fee for dispensaries. Typical licence fees start at $240. If adopted by the city, the $30,000 charge might kill off a few of the existing pot shops; so would anti-clustering and location regulations.
Local marijuana impresario Don Briere wouldn’t mind seeing some of the competition knocked to the sidelines. He has already opened 15 dispensaries in Vancouver and its suburbs since 2013 and owns a number of them outright. More stores should operate like his, he says: Tidy, secure, and well away from schools.
“I think the report is fabulous,” says the 63-year-old businessman. “Vancouver is leading the way, setting sensible rules and regulations for the sale of cannabis. It’s a winwin for everyone.” As for the proposed rule limiting a person to one marijuana retail business licence, Mr. Briere and his lawyer agree that there’s likely “a way around that.”