Help wanted: pot enforcement czar
Province to shut down unlicensed dispensaries when cannabis legal
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 noncompliance” 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 governmentrun stores and private retailers licensed by the province.
That could leave well over 100 existing cannabis shops subject to more focused enforcement than they have seen in years.
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 licences, 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.
“There are going to be people who hold fast to their traditional ways,” he said. “Others are going to rejoice in the certainty of quality of product and certainty in price, and knowing that any excess revenue will go to programs that help communities, rather than ‘Betty’ down the street.”
B.C.’s black market cannabis growers may also be subject to enforcement when legal cannabis hits the market.
The supply of legal cannabis from federally licensed growers 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.
The B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch has hired Michael Tan as executive director for cannabis operations to oversee the supply and sale of recreational cannabis and cannabis-related products.
A large package of legislation related to the post-legalization regime is expected to be tabled by the provincial government Thursday, the latest wave of regulations developed with the help of a special secretariat over the past two years in response to federal legalization.
The government’s top priorities are “the protection of young people, promoting health and safety, keeping the criminal element out of cannabis, keeping our roads safe, and supporting economic development,” according to the ministry.