Interest high in operating marijuana dispensaries
Vancouver receives 176 applications
VANCOUVER — A Vancouver city councillor says that when the dust settles, fewer than one in 10 people or groups who have applied for the city’s new coveted medical-marijuana business licences will be able to open.
On Friday, the city said it had received 176 applications for so-called legal dispensaries, well up from the more than 110 now operating illegally in Vancouver. Of those applications, 69 were from groups describing themselves as compassion clubs, which would qualify for greatly reduced business licence fees of $1,000. Those applying for retail licenses have to pay a $30,000 fee.
Coun. Kerry Jang said he doesn’t think more than 15 or 16 of the proposed dispensaries will be able to meet the city’s stringent requirements, which include not locating near schools, parks, community centres, in entertainment districts or the Downtown Eastside, or near each other.
“With the processes we’ve set up, the vast majority will be gone,” said Jang. “At least twothirds will have to shut down. And my guess is that when all is said and done, perhaps as many as 16 might get through.”
Indeed, those requirements include the fact the city will reject any applicant who has had a criminal conviction for possession of marijuana in the last five years.
Andreea Toma, the city’s chief licence inspector, said city laws prevent her from issuing a licence to anyone who has been convicted of an offence related to the business they want to operate.
“Because this is a marijuanarelated use, if there is a marijuana-related conviction within the last five years, we would have to deny it [the application],” she said.
In June, Vancouver became the first city in Canada to regulate illegal marijuana dispensaries. The aim was to weed out for-profit dispensaries in favour of non-profit compassion clubs.
It was also in response to the high number of medical pot dispensaries that have popped up in Vancouver while a challenge to the new federal government rules on medical marijuana plays out in the courts.
The City of Victoria is watching how Vancouver deals with the issue as it ponders similar regulations to govern marijuana dispensaries.