Pubdate: Wed, 08 Jul 2015
Source: Nanaimo Daily News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Nanaimo Daily News
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1608
Author: Darrell Bellaart
Page: A5

CANNABIS DISPENSARIES OPERATE IN GREY ZONE

The bold, green business sign towering over the half-finished cannabis
dispensary is a prominent symbol of Nanaimo's newest industry.

City bylaw officers traced the ownership of WeeMedical Dispensary
Society to a numbered B.C. company, while working to enforce a
stop-work order for a zoning violation.

It's a rare example where local government have regulatory authority
to stop a dispensary opening.

Nanaimo is following the lead of Vancouver and Victoria to see a
proliferation of cannabis shops in discreet locations.

Operated as non-profit societies, they're not subject to the same
licensing restrictions as commercial enterprises.

RCMP won't try to close them because of Supreme Court decisions that
put them in a legal grey zone.

At Nanaimo Medical Care Club Research Facility a man who identified
himself only as a "volunteer" said the club at the downtown location
follows federal regulations, requiring a Health Canada certificate or
a doctor's note from clients.

Inside a small shop at a Bowen Road strip mall business is
steady.

No one at Vancouver Island Health Advocacy Centre is authorized to
talk to media about the operation, but staff are affable.

Other dispensaries operate from locations on Dufferin Crescent, Front
and Wallace streets.

"The majority are registered societies," said Nelda Richardson,
manager of business licensing.

"Under the business bylaw, they don't need a licence from this
department."

A stop-work order idled the WeeMedical Dispensary Society.
Dispensaries are an office use, but the land is zoned for light
industrial, and washrooms and other improvements are needed to get the
rezoning.

"We're just waiting for them to make the application," said Tom
Weinreich, city building inspections manager.

Unless a minor is involved or public safety is involved, RCMP do
nothing.

"We'll let it work through the court system before we take a proactive
stance," said Const. Gary O'Brien of the Nanaimo RCMP detachment.

"We're in kind of a holding pattern."

With dispensaries proliferating in larger cities, it's no surprise
it's coming to Nanaimo, said John Moeller, operations manager of
Broken Coast Cannabis, a Ladysmith grower that employs 10 people.

"Entrepreneurial types see it in Vancouver and see it's now getting
regulated and they want to do it," Moeller said.

"It undermines the system a little bit."

He operates under close Health Canada scrutiny, but "obviously they're
selling the same product we are and don't have to follow the rules we
do, and they can offer services we can't."
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MAP posted-by: Matt