Ottawa Citizen

Are some ’hoods too poor for pot?

City asks LCBO to keep cannabis out of disadvanta­ged districts

- JACQUIE MILLER

As the LCBO scouts the city for places to open cannabis stores, City of Ottawa planners have asked the agency to avoid neighbourh­oods that are “experienci­ng socio-economic stress.”

Staff declined to elaborate on which neighbourh­oods should be off-limits. But the request raises the question of whether residents of disadvanta­ged neighbourh­oods should be protected — or excluded, depending on your point of view — from having a legal cannabis store.

The Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporatio­n, a subsidiary of the LCBO, is asking municipali­ties for advice as it selects sites for the 40 shops it plans to open when the federal government legalizes recreation­al marijuana. That’s expected in July.

The public will get a chance to provide comments once specific sites are chosen.

The province has set general guidelines for locating the stores, which will sell only cannabis and accessorie­s. They can’t be near schools, must adhere to municipal zoning bylaws, provide “equitable access” to customers across the region, and help combat illegal dispensari­es, says the LCBO.

Politician­s have suggested government stores might be opened near illegal pot shops to help run them out of business.

In Ottawa, illegal dispensari­es have popped up in areas that are definitely “experienci­ng socioecono­mic stress,” including the east end of Rideau Street and Montreal Road.

Mark Kaluski, president of the Quartier Vanier BIA, has urged police to raid illegal shops along Montreal Road, saying merchants don’t want the strip turned into “pot row.”

However, a government-run cannabis store would be OK, said Kaluski in an interview.

“If they truly plan on shutting down all the illegal dispensari­es, than having (a legal store) in this area makes sense, because clearly there is a need for it, there is a market for it. I’d much rather the controlled, planned distributi­on of marijuana than this sort of grey area we’ve been living in for the last two years.

“If (a shop) came to Montreal Road, and it was regulated and it was handled properly, I’d be in support of it,” Kaluski said. “Presumably you won’t be able to stand outside the LCBO and smoke pot. As long as proper enforcemen­t is done, then great. Economic activity. Let’s do it!”

It’s not known how many stores will open in Ottawa initially, but it won’t be many. The province says the first 40 stores will be spread among 29 municipali­ties. Plans are to open 80 stores by July 2019 and 150 stores by the end of 2020.

Coun. Mathieu Fleury says his discussion­s with provincial officials indicate Ottawa might get three or four stores in July. It might be a good idea to avoid placing the first stores in struggling neighbourh­oods so as not to “further stigmatize them,” Fleury said. Shopping malls might be a good location, because they have good security, parking, access to transit and a mix of commercial uses, he said.

Locating the first shops at malls might also help ease the stigma around buying cannabis, he said.

In a mall, it’s not as obvious which store customers are dropping into. “There’s still the idea of walking down a street, and opening the door of a weed shop ...

“Maybe we start in the malls, see how (the cannabis stores) are, how they function.”

Fleury said he hopes city council gets a chance to debate the issue.

Coun. Jeff Leiper, who represents Kitchissip­pi ward, said he trusts the LCBO to use common sense in locating cannabis stores.

Based on experience in his ward, traditiona­l main streets, away from parks and schools, could work, he said. Two dispensari­es in his ward, one on Wellington Street and the other on Carling Avenue, caused no problems in the community, he said. “People didn’t really raise an eyebrow.”

However, Leiper got complaints about another dispensary that opened for a few weeks across the street from a playground at the Parkdale Market.

As for whether cannabis stores should be located in economical­ly vulnerable areas, “that’s a much longer conversati­on we need to have,” he said.

Leiper predicts only one store will open in Ottawa in July.

Pot stores will be small compared with liquor stores — about 2,500 square feet, according to the LCBO. There are about 30 LCBO liquor outlets in Ottawa, averaging 8,000 to 10,000 square feet. The smallest, at St. Laurent Shopping Centre, is 2,200 square feet.

Coun. Riley Brockingto­n says that if there are only one or two stores, “the demand will be extreme.” He predicts people from rural areas might travel to Ottawa to buy pot legally. The Cannabis Corp. will also sell marijuana online.

Brockingto­n said he supports restrictio­ns similar to those pioneered by Vancouver to control the spread of illegal dispensari­es. Vancouver requires dispensari­es to be located away from schools and community centres, for example, and limits how close they can be to each other so clusters can’t develop.

Brockingto­n said he understand­s the sentiment behind trying to protect vulnerable people.

“It’s a fair comment that you don’t want to make neighbourh­oods worse off. I want to make sure that whatever commercial entity moves in is actually making the neighbourh­ood better.”

But it is problemati­c to restrict cannabis stores from some neighbourh­oods, he said. “At what point do we let adults be adults?

“If it’s federally legal as of July 1, and it can be sold to adults, the assumption is that adults can make decisions on their own. Does the state need to take additional measures to decide which neighbourh­oods are worthy, and which aren’t?”

 ?? JEAN LEVAC ?? Mark Kaluski, president of Quartier Vanier BIA, supports bringing a pot store to Montreal Road.
JEAN LEVAC Mark Kaluski, president of Quartier Vanier BIA, supports bringing a pot store to Montreal Road.

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