Pubdate: Wed, 19 Aug 2015
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2015 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Mike Hager
Page: S1

RAIDED POT SHOPS MAY HAVE TROUBLE WITH LICENSING

Vancouver dispensaries that have been raided by police for allegedly
selling cannabis to teens or being linked to gangs such as the Hells
Angels have a slim chance of securing approval under the city's new
licensing regime, says a councillor who was one of the main architects
of the new pot shop rules.

Councillor Kerry Jang, who oversees the marijuana file for the
governing Vision Vancouver party, said city staff will seek input from
the Vancouver Police Department's drug squad when reviewing
applications under the new licensing system, which was approved in
June.

And that means the owners of six shops that have reopened after being
raided in recent years will likely have a hard time getting a licence,
Mr. Jang said.

"If they were caught selling to minors previously? Well, you can
imagine what the recommendation [from police] will be," Mr. Jang said
Tuesday.

The city is accepting applications until the end of this week for a
special class of business licence that will charge dispensaries hefty
fees and impose limits on who can operate them and where they can set
up shop. While storefront pot sales remain illegal, the city said it
had no choice but to attempt to regulate the explosion of dispensaries
in Vancouver.

The Vancouver Police have executed 11 search warrants at the city's
pot dispensaries since 2012, the most recent last week at a shop
operated by the Limelife Society chain in the east side of the city.

Court documents filed to secure the warrant allege police raided the
Limelife dispensary after investigators determined it was being run by
an alleged Hells Angel associate, as well as allegedly selling pot to
minors. That was the first time law enforcement has drawn a direct
link between organized crime groups, which ran B.C.'s illicit
marijuana trade in decades past, and the dispensaries that now dot
most commercial areas of the city.

The allegations have not been tested in court and the owner of the
Limelife chain, Robert Clarke, did not return requests for comment
Tuesday.

Last week, Mr. Clarke said he has absolutely no connection to gangs
and he has never been charged with a crime.

He said he shut down the shop that was raided. Even though police said
they were not investigating the other three Limelife locations for
links to the Hells Angels, Geoff Meggs, a Vision councillor, said if
one location in a chain has been raided over such allegations, then
every store owned by the same person should be disqualified from
getting a new business licence.

"If they're all under similar business administration, then the
accountability would be at the top and it would cast a shadow over all
of the licences," said Mr. Meggs, who has previously raised concerns
about the potential role criminals may play in the dispensary sector.

City staff say one person can apply for a pot-shop licence to operate
up to five separate locations of the same chain and another person can
apply for more locations using that same name. Non-profit compassion
clubs can be licensed to a sole person or non-profit society.

Mr. Jang said annual police record checks for all employees and a
regimen of monthly and spot visits by building and bylaw inspectors
will also help eliminate any criminal element from newly licensed
dispensaries.

None of the dispensaries are selling cannabis legally, which can only
be done under the federal medical marijuana system. However, the
police department has allowed them to openly hawk their products so
long as they don't let minors buy products and aren't tied to gangsters.

- - with a report from The Canadian Press
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