Enforcement remains hazy
VANCOUVER — Marijuana businesses are growing in size and scope as Canada moves toward legalization of recreational pot, creating an increasingly daunting job for those tasked with enforcing the rules.
In Vancouver’s bustling downtown, sleek, modern posters with fashionable fonts and simple images are plastered on lamp posts. It’s not until you take a closer look that you spot the rolled joints inside a sandwich or buds among a plate of broccoli.
“Weed delivery. Simplified,” the posters read.
Once an underground industry, marijuana delivery services are now advertising publicly, joining unlicensed retail stores and online shops as cannabis businesses openly skirting the existing law.
Officials have tried to shut them down, but efforts haven’t always been effective and whether enforcement will fare any differently post legalization remains hazy.
It’s still illegal for anyone to possess, produce, import, export, or transport marijuana until federal legislation is enacted, said Const. Jason Doucette, a spokesman for Vancouver police.
“Although these online (and) storefront dispensaries are essentially trafficking controlled substances, there is not enough manpower and time to conduct these investigations due to the sheer number of these operations,” he said in an email.
“Police resources are very limited in terms of investigating cannabis offences, among the other workload that members have been given.”
Doucette said it would be inappropriate to comment on the force’s role post legalization, but he noted that officers “will be able to deal with public safety issues that arise.”
The federal government has pledged to legalize recreational marijuana later this year and the Senate is set to hold a final vote on the legislation, known as Bill C-45, by June 7. Provinces and territories have been left to come up with their own regulations to control distribution and sales.
British Columbia’s Ministry of Public Safety is hiring a “director of cannabis control” and a “community safety unit” to enforce new provincial legislation, although exact roles are still being determined.
Under the new rules, cannabis enforcement officers will be able to enter illegal retail operations without a warrant to seize product and records.
In B.C., the maximum punishment for selling pot outside of the provincial framework will be a $100,000 fine and 12 months in jail.Post legalization, marijuana shops will need licences from both the municipality and the province to operate.