Pubdate: Mon, 09 Mar 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: Ron Corbett
Page: 6

GOING TO POT HERE?

Bob Cabana says he would welcome a marijuana store moving in across
the street from him.

He figures it would be good for all the businesses on Wellington
Street.

Bob Cabana says this while dressed as a character from Sgt. Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band. So he may be a little biased. On the business
benefits of marijuana.

Still, he thinks a pot store is a great idea for the
area.

"Maybe it could become a tourist attraction," he says.

"Maybe the store could do it the way they do it on Venice Beach. Have
you ever been to Venice Beach?"

"No," I answer.

"Well, at Venice beach they have people running around dressed in
doctor's gowns, to lure people into the dispensaries. You can get a
medical appointment over Skype, then a prescription, and you're out
the door with pot. It's unbelievable."

Bob Cabana runs Fabgear 64, a shop with an eclectic mix of clothing
and paraphernalia from what he considers the height of human
civilization and advancement -- the British Invasion year of 1964.

So with Keith Richards staring down at me (a great t-shirt printed
from a photo taken of the Stones 1975 concert at Maple Leaf Gardens)
it doesn't seem strange, this ringing endorsement of National Access
Cannabis.

Across the street, at the elite athlete bike shop, it's a different
story.

"It would be a disaster for the community if that company opens up,"
says Ian Fraser, owner of Cyclelogik.

"Hintonburg spent years battling a bad drug stigma, street drugs and
crack houses and what have you.

"A lot of people worked hard to clean that up. The last thing we need
is some store promoting marijuana moving right onto Wellington Street."

Right next door to Cyclelogik, to be exact. The two businesses would
even share an entranceway.

Which would be interesting.

But will it be good for the city, if National Access Cannabis opens a
store in Ottawa later this month, at the current location of the
Heavens to Betsy store on Wellington Street?

The Victoria-based company will not be dispensing medicinal marijuana
in Ottawa. That would be illegal.

But it will be offering "access" to medicinal marijuana.

For a $100-membership fee it will connect clients to physicians
willing to write medicinal marijuana prescriptions.

(The appointment is normally via Skype.) After that, the company helps
with all the government paperwork and hooks the client up with the
companies that can sell pot (like Tweed in Smiths Falls.) It is a
classic middleman, drug operation. Give my a hundred dollars and I'll
be right back. No, you can't come with me. Stay right here.

National Access Cannabis, like all middlemen, hopes to be more, one
day.

The company has stated it wants to run full medicinal marijuana
dispensaries in Canada one day, if they become legal.

The company is betting on Justin Trudeau.

And just as marijuana will be contentious in the upcoming general
election -- whether we are talking medicinal or recreational use -- it
has already become that in Hintonburg.

"I think medicinal marijuana is a crock, if you want my honest
opinion," says Fraser.

"Recreational use makes more sense to me. At least it's honest. I
don't believe the medicinal argument at all.

"So you have to wonder what the end game is here. Will this community
be getting a full marijuana dispensary one day? Given what we have
battled in the past, I just don't see how that would be a good idea."

Across the street, at Fabgear 64, there is a more sanguine approach to
the expected invasion of British Columbia pot merchants.

"Within a few blocks of me are two of the biggest head shops in the
city," says Cabana.

"One of them has this big pot leaf in the window. How will this
company be any different? Because it does Skype interviews?"
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MAP posted-by: Matt