B.C. for-profit pot shops look to skirt the rules
VANCOUVER — Less than 24 hours after Vancouver enacted a two-tier licensing system to rein in an explosion of marijuana dispensaries, some for-profit shops are considering converting to not-forprofit compassion clubs to avoid paying a $30,000 business licence fee. But the city’s requirements for those clubs, which would reduce the fee to $1,000, are onerous enough that at least one city councillor says it may be cheaper for them to just pay the city’s higher fee. From simple questions about why illegal dispensaries would obey a city bylaw when they already ignore federal drug laws, to how shop owners will try to skirt the rules by claiming compassion club status, the landscape around Canada’s first bylaw to regulate pot dispensaries is anything but tilled.
“I had two inquiries as of a few hours after the bylaw was passed from people wanting to know if they could convert to compassion clubs,” said Coun. Kerry Jang, who led the charge to regulate pot shops as businesses. “I told them they’ll have to meet all the conditions of a compassion club, and that’s not going to be easy.”
The city says the non-profits will have to be patient-centred and offer more than just a place to buy dope.
At least half of the club area will have to be used to provide health care services and at least two licensed medical practitioners will have to be available, such as registered psychologists, dietitians, massage therapists, Chinese medicine practitioners or craniosacral therapists.
“It may be cheaper for these forprofit shops to simply pay the city’s $30,000 licence fee than have to go through the hoops to become a compassion club,” Jang said. But not everyone believes that. Coun. Melissa De Genova, one of three councillors who opposed the regulation, noted city staff have said it could take up to a year to get illegal shops closed if the city has to go to court.
More importantly, the city is not insisting applicants file financial statements, meaning there is no way to know if a non-profit is actually operating as one.