Pubdate: Mon, 08 Aug 2016
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Page: A1
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Jacquie Miller

PUBLIC HEALTH STEPS INTO THE HAZE

City runs safety check on pot dispensary's merchandise

In marijuana dispensaries across Ottawa, customers are snapping up 
dried weed, cannabis brownies and hash, while authorities at every 
level stand by.

Federal politicians condemn the dispensaries as illegal businesses 
selling products that may be unsafe.

They want Canada's drug laws enforced, but that's up to the police.

Ottawa police say they have been monitoring the dispensaries since 
the first one opened in November 2015. They don't reveal details of 
"ongoing investigations."

At city hall, bylaw officials have been given the head-scratching 
task of figuring out whether or how to regulate dispensaries.

There's no zoning category for the illegal businesses. And while 
licences are required to operate everything from a dog kennel to a 
flea market in the city of Ottawa, officials say licensing medical 
marijuana is the responsibility of Health Canada.

But Health Canada does not check the quality and safety of dispensary 
products because they aren't part of the legal system for producing 
and selling medical marijuana in Canada.

So who's overseeing the eight pot shops that have opened in town? 
Well, one regulator has sprung into action. An inspector from Ottawa 
Public Health marched into the Weeds marijuana store on Montreal Road 
in May after receiving a complaint that food was being sold there.

The inspector whipped out a thermometer and checked the temperature 
of the refrigerated case (4 C) and freezer (-18 C) that held the 
medicated ginger molasses cookies, "double-dose Nanaimo bars" and brownies.

The temperatures were appropriate. The inspector checked labels on 
products and confirmed that nothing was prepared at the store, said 
Weeds manager Nick Dumond.

He proudly reports that Weeds is in full compliance with all food 
safety regulations.

Weeds was assessed to be a "low-risk" business requiring only one 
inspection a year, according to a statement from the city. Health 
inspectors look for anything that may cause food-borne illnesses, 
ensuring that food is not "prepared, stored and/or handled in a 
manner that could be conducive to bacterial or viral reproduction."

The other Weeds store on Bank Street is now on the list for food 
inspections, too. The health department responds to complaints, and 
will check for food safety even if the business is not licensed, 
according to the city's statement.

It's one of the stranger developments as Ottawa officials decide what 
to do about the city's marijuana dispensaries.

They range from the boutique-like Weeds outlets to a spartan store 
down the hall from a porn video shop on downtown Bank Street to a 
Carling Avenue business set up to look like a doctor's clinic. Their 
operators say they serve medical marijuana patients.

Hundred of dispensaries have opened across Canada, their owners 
emboldened by the federal government's promise to legalize recreational pot.

Ottawa police and municipal councillors are watching what's happening 
in Toronto and Vancouver, the cities with the most dispensaries. 
Toronto police have raided them and Vancouver municipal politicians 
have regulated them, but neither approach has stamped out the pot shops.

Toronto Coun. Jim Karygiannis compares the situation to the quick and 
unstoppable rise of ride-hailing app Uber.

He has some advice for Ottawa. Police raids on dispensaries are a 
waste of public money, in his opinion. In Toronto, many of the stores 
simply reopened after police and bylaw officers raided nearly 50 of 
them in May and June.

But until the federal government comes up with regulations for 
recreational marijuana, Karygiannis said, cities have to take action 
to control such things as where the shops are located and whether 
children can see the products from the street.

"We have to move quickly, because these dispensaries are not going to 
go away. They're popping up everywhere." Toronto's licensing and 
standards committee will discuss the issue this fall.

In Vancouver, a year after the city introduced regulations, only a 
couple of licences have been awarded but dozens of stores have 
ignored orders to shut down.

In Ottawa, the debate has just begun, and opinions are mixed. Coun. 
Mathieu Fleury has asked police to shut down the two dispensaries on 
Montreal Road in Vanier, a position echoed by the business 
improvement area, which doesn't want the strip to be dominated by 
bong shops and pot stores. The president of the Vanier BIA, Mark 
Kaluski, said he's astounded the dispensaries have been allowed to 
defy drug-trafficking laws with impunity.

The Bank Street BIA has similar concerns about the two dispensaries 
that have opened downtown.

Coun. Riley Brockington has asked staff for information about 
licensing the dispensaries, while Coun. Shad Qadri warns the city 
shouldn't get involved in regulating an illegal business. Coun. Jeff 
Leiper says the dispensary in his ward hasn't caused problems and is 
just another business as far as he's concerned.

In Little Italy, the executive director of the Preston Street BIA 
said she has no problem with the Green Tree dispensary that recently 
opened there, nestled between restaurants, cafes and offices.

"We welcome them," executive director Lori Mello said. "We don't want 
to see six on the street, but we see it as another service that's 
going to be adding to our list of services."

The dispensaries appear to be operating in "legal no man's land," Mello said.

It would be "ridiculous" for the police to raid them at a time when 
the federal government has promised to legalize marijuana and stop 
"filling the jails with people arrested for petty pot busts," she 
said. "We're moving to a recreational model, so pick your battles in life.

"We know the laws are going to be relaxed soon, so there's no 
appetite to charge these people."

In the American states where marijuana has been legalized, it's been 
an economic boon, she said. "I think we have to have them to stay 
hip," she said with a laugh.

"We have dozens of bars on Preston Street," Mello said. "And I think 
these dispensaries will be overseen stringently, and probably will 
end up having the same kind of requirements, in the end, that bar 
owners and restaurant owners who serve alcohol do."

The longtime owner of a Preston Street restaurant said he doesn't use 
drugs himself, but is not primarily concerned with the pot being sold 
at the nearby Green Tree dispensary.

He just wants marijuana shops to be subject to the same rules, 
regulations and fees that he faces as a small-business owner.

"It's only fair," said the man, who asked not to be identified. If he 
sold homemade wine at his restaurant without a licence, the Liquor 
Control Board of Ontario would shut him down in minutes, he added.

Owners of several Ottawa dispensaries, including Weeds owner Don 
Briere, said they welcome city regulations because they want to 
operate as legitimate businesses. Manager Dumond said he's asked the 
city for a licence for his two Weeds stores, but bylaw officials told 
him the businesses don't qualify.

It's not known if stores will even be allowed when recreational 
marijuana is legal.

A discussion paper released by the federal government emphasizes the 
need to restrict the sale of marijuana, especially to young people.

It also raises the possibility of controls on advertising and 
labelling, plain packaging, limits on potency and restrictions on the 
sale of edibles such as cookies and candy, which are attractive to children.

The federal government has promised to introduce legislation to 
legalize recreational pot in the spring of 2017.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom