Province seeking pot enforcement czar
The provincial government is seeking a director for its cannabis enforcement unit, which will investigate and shut down unlicensed dispensaries when recreational cannabis becomes legal later this year.
The new drug czar will be tasked with ferreting out “wilful non-compliance” by unlicensed cannabis shops and taking regulatory and criminal enforcement action against them.
Recreational cannabis could be legal to possess by this August under federal law. In B.C., its sale will likely be restricted to government-run stores and private retailers licensed by the province.
That could leave well over 100 existing cannabis shops subject to more focused enforcement.
Enforcement by police against black market retailers has been sporadic, especially in Vancouver.
The city has instead chosen to regulate the trade with permits and business licenses, even though their products are still illegal. Several more cannabis “dispensaries” are scattered through the Okanagan and the Sunshine Coast.
“B.C. is committed to implementing a well-regulated retail system that only sells legally produced and tested cannabis,” according to the Ministry of Public Safety and the Solicitor General. “That means that existing dispensaries will have to close, unless they obtain a (provincial) licence.”
Legalization activist and entrepreneur Dana Larsen is skeptical.
“This will take years if not decades to resolve, most likely through the courts,” he said. “Most of the cannabis smoked in Canada will continue to be free-market cannabis.”
More than 50 dispensaries served with injunctions by the City of Vancouver will be in court in September to fight for their right to stay open.
“We are illegal now and we will still be illegal (after legalization), so it’s hard to say how much will have changed,” said Larsen, who runs two dispensaries in Vancouver.
It will take time for people to adjust to the licensed retail system, especially if they have been well-served by the illicit trade, said Premier John Horgan.
B.C.’s black market cannabis growers may also be subject to enforcement when legal cannabis hits the market.
The supply of legal cannabis is from federally licensed growers and will be managed exclusively by the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch, and the federal government has promised new trafficking penalties in the Criminal Code as part of its legalization package.
A large package of legislation related to the post-legalization regime is expected to be tabled by the provincial government Thursday morning.