BuzzOn Vapour Lounge marks its first anniversary
As marijuana enthusiasts celebrated Wednesday at annual 4-20 rallies, BuzzOn Vapour Lounge manager Wayne Robillard had an extra reason to be in high spirits. Wednesday marked the first anniversary of the opening of Ottawa’s first vapour lounge.
“It’s a fantastic feeling. It’s been a year since we threw open the doors and invited the mayor and everyone else in and started all the ruckus,” said Robillard.
Despite an initially chilly reception from the city — Mayor Jim Watson said it was “the last thing the city needs” — police have mostly left the lounge and its patrons alone after a few exploratory visits shortly after it opened. BuzzOn was shut down in May 2015 because of zoning regulations, but it reopened five months later with a new permit for a place of assembly instead of a retail establishment permit.
Robillard said the location at 29 Montreal Rd. in Vanier averages about 50 customers a day. But Wednesday night, a 4-20 BBQ drew an estimated 130 people.
Robillard said it wouldn’t have been possible to open a vapour lounge in Ottawa just a few years ago.
“Now that there’s legal cannabis in medicinal forms and we’ve won so many rights, (marijuana) is becoming mainstream,” he said.
For a $5 membership fee, people can hang out in the lounge and use its vaporizers. No pot is sold at BuzzOn; patrons bring their own from outside.
The only legal way to get marijuana in Canada today is from one of 30 licensed producers, with a doctor’s authorization. The drug is delivered through the mail, but the election of a pro-legalization federal government has seen a proliferation of illegal dispensaries springing up across the country in anticipation of changes to the law. Most require their clients to have either a doctor’s or a naturopath’s authorization to use marijuana.
In the year since BuzzOn opened, Robillard says, three illegal dispensaries have opened in Ottawa, and he’d like to think his lounge had something to do with it. “As soon as you accept one business you’re kind of becoming complacent to the whole industry.”
On Wednesday, federal Health Minister Jane Philpot announced that the government would table its legalization legislation in spring 2017.