Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

CITY HALL

Kamloops council reduces business license fees for cannabis retailers by 96 per cent

Dec 13, 2022 | 5:02 PM

KAMLOOPS — Cannabis has been legal in Canada for over four years, with private stores throughout BC operating for over three years.

On Tuesday, Kamloops city council made things more affordable for the owners of those businesses. For the past three years, cannabis retailers have paid around $5,000 a year for city business licenses.

Today, council dropped that fee by 96 per cent to $196.40, which is in line with other municipalities in the region. Chris Lyth, who owns the Shore Cannabiz Shop is pleased with the decision.

“We’ve been operating for almost four years now, so we’ve been paying this very large and unreasonable business fee for all those years,” Lyth explains. “We’re really excited for it to be dropped down to the normal level, and be treated like every other business.”

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Originally, the fee was justified by suggesting extra policing costs would be required around cannabis retailers. However, as cannabis users and retailers can attest, those extra costs never materialized.

“Cannabis consumers are very mellow. We’re not like alcohol users, who can misbehave sometimes. Cannabis consumers are very calm and very happy, so none of that materialized. I knew that from Day One, but [the city] needed to figure it out for themselves.”

The motion passed unanimously, 9-0, and will take effect in 2023.