Pubdate: Sun, 17 May 2015
Source: Ottawa Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2015 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact: http://www.ottawasun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://www.ottawasun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/329
Author: Aedan Helmer
Page: 3

COMPETITOR BOASTS ABOUT HASSLE-FREE VAPE LOUNGE NEARBY

Francois Charlebois stifles a laugh when he hears about BuzzOn's claim
as the city's first so-called marijuana vape lounge.

While city officials shut down BuzzOn over a raft of building code
violations Friday, Charlebois has been running his own vape shop for
three months now - with no fanfare or the unwanted attention that
comes with it - just a few hundred metres down the street.

Located at 600 Rideau St., the Smoke Signalz head shop - specializing
in all manner of pot paraphernalia - has been serving a steady stream
of members who pay to puff.

"You keep it professional," said owner Francois Charlebois.

"We have a waiver form that we have people sign to cover us and the
patient, or the user, and everything seems to be working pretty good."

The rules are similar to BuzzOn - no mooching, no sharing, "nothing
that could be seen as trafficking," and positively no smoking...
tobacco, that is.

As for hassles from cops or city officials? "None at all," said
Charlebois. "If they come in, we have all the records of all the
customers and patients who come in here, and if they want to go
through the paperwork I'd be glad to hand them over... I've been in
contact with people (in the marijuana industry) in B.C. and Toronto
and (a vape lounge) seems to be the way the market is going, so I
figured I'd try it out."

Charlebois said his shop is properly zoned, and he doesn't sell any
food products, which could ruffle feathers with city officials.

BuzzOn co-owner Wayne Robillard, who sold snacks in his lounge, claims
the city is making him jump through hoops before rezoning his lounge
as a restaurant, while the city claims the property was shuttered for
building code violations.

"We have proper air filtration system, proper seating," said
Charlebois.

"You go the extra mile to put the proper environment in
here."

Charlebois said he'll "gladly oblige" any licensing requirements the
city comes up with, and soon hopes to expand to a larger vacant
storefront next door.

"We're at the trial and error stage, just to see if there's enough of
a customer base for it, because I'd like to move next door and make it
a full-size (venue), so we could bring in TVs and sports games, UFC,
boxing, things like that.

"That would make it like a bar-type lounge, but before we do that kind
of expansion we want to see how it goes (here) and hopefully we'll
move in next door."
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MAP posted-by: Matt