City preparing to deal with private pot shops ahead of legalization

There are still a handful of dispensaries operating illegally in the city, but Jones says those shops aren’t the main priority right now, and direction from the province will likely guide how illegal dispensaries will be dealt with.

“Obviously we’ll be asking them to close down,” Jones says. “Voluntary compliance is always the first mandate of gaining any kind of respect from these people. But I don’t think on Oct. 18 that everybody’s rushing out the door and closing these down.”

“It’ll be that volunteer compliance that we’re looking for. Obviously a visit to the stores to say ‘Listen, you still don’t have business licence, you still don’t have a provincial cannabis licence, and respectfully we ask you to cease and desist all business.”

The proposed government-operated cannabis store is considered a sure shot for council approval, and Jones says he hopes the store will be a prime example of a well-run legal operation for the province.

“I would be surprised if the council didn’t support it, being that there was a recommendation that we reached out to the province,” Jones says. “I think… what a great opportunity to have the forefront leaders of the first store, not only in the province but in Kamloops, to kind of set the tone or set the example of how cannabis will be regulated and how… we can look forward to having a good operator and not showing any kind of negative impact from that operation.”

Kamloops mayor Ken Christian says the vote on Tuesday will be similar to liquor primary applications that come before council. The City will ask for public submissions, and after those are heard council will question staff on the application and make a determination about the authorization of the store. If the green light is given, the store will open the following morning.

“They’ve done a lot of homework prior to this,” Christian says. “Obviously due diligence in terms of their neighbourhood, their lease, their staffing, security all of those kinds of things they’re already looked after. So this is really the final step in the licencing process.”

In terms of Kamloops being picked for the first home to a government-run recreational cannabis store, Christian says he feels it’s a reflection of the city and its readiness for the industry. Kamloops may be the first city to host a legal dispensary, but Christian believes other municipalities will follow suit sooner rather than later.

“Many of them have learned from our experiences in terms of what to charge for a licence, whether to cluster the stores or spread them out, what kind of buffer distances should you have between things like daycares and schools, what about cannabis use in stratas, those kinds of things,” he says. “Quite frankly, cannabis has been used in Kamloops for many, many years just like any other city. I think there’s the novelty of the fact that this is a government-run cannabis retail store but beyond that I think it will just normalize very, very quickly.”

by Ashley Legassic

City preparing to deal with private pot shops ahead of legalization

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