Pubdate: Fri, 22 Apr 2016
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2016 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Mike Hager
Page: S1

FOUR DISPENSARIES ALLOWED TO SEEK LICENCES, BUT THREE OTHERS SUE CITY 
AFTER REJECTIONS

Four Vancouver cannabis dispensaries that enjoy support from the 
community can pursue a coveted business licence despite operating 
closer to schools and community centres than allowed, says the 
independent panel that can grant exemptions to the city's new bylaw.

But three other dispensaries are suing the city, arguing the five 
members on the Board of Variance unfairly rejected their appeals - 
under pressure from city staff - to operate within the 300-metre buffer zones.

On Wednesday, while thousands of cannabis users were celebrating at 
Vancouver's Sunset Beach 4/ 20 party, B. C. Compassion Club Society 
founder Hilary Black was speaking at a hearing along with several 
patients and the non-profit's long-time lawyer and prominent cannabis 
activist John Conroy.

Ms. Black, who started the non-profit dispensary in 1997, said the 
board recognized that her 6,000-member organization would have to 
shut down if it was required to move to a new location, further away 
from the two private schools that opened after Canada's oldest 
dispensary was founded.

Their appeal was also buoyed by the support of the community and 
recognition of the club's effective approach to harm reduction and 
holistic medicine from numerous levels of government, she said in an interview.

"A handful of dispensaries in Vancouver are giving back in a number 
of ways," she said.

Ms. Black, who now works for Canada's largest licensed marijuana 
producer, praised the board for granting the appeal.

"They're citizen volunteers and they're used to dealing with the size 
of decks and issues around parking lots, so they have been thrown 
into the middle of a very complex issue," Ms. Black said.

The board has now given four dispensaries a second chance to continue 
pursuing a business licence from the city and panel members will hear 
the remaining 45 appeals into November.

Andreea Toma, Vancouver's director of licensing, said 22 applicants 
have now made it to the second of three licensing stages and the 
first business licence will likely be awarded to a pot shop in the next month.

Meanwhile, the rest of the city's roughly 100 dispensaries must shut 
down - even if they are awaiting an appeal with the board - by April 
29 or face fines from the city and possible injunctions.

In the past week, S. W. E. D. Cannabis Society and the Green Cross 
Society filed lawsuits in the Supreme Court of British Columbia 
asking for a judicial review after the Board of Variance rejected 
their appeals earlier this year. Robert W. E. Laurie, the lawyer for 
the two dispensaries, said he planned to file another lawsuit for 
Vancity Medicinal Society on Friday.

Mr. Laurie said his three dispensary clients are asking a judge to 
force the board to rehear their appeals and, in the meantime, let the 
stores continue operating.

"The Board of Variance hasn't done their job and, therefore, the 
purpose of the judicial review is to sort that out," Mr. Laurie said Thursday.

Rohan Gardiner, who manages the Green Cross Society dispensary on 
Kingsway, said in an affidavit sworn April 20 that the city's 
assistant director of planning told the board members that they had 
no power to relax the strict application of the 300-metre buffer zones.

"I recall [ the chair] indicating by his words and conduct that ' If 
we have no ability to actually change these decisions, why are we 
here right now?' " Mr. Gardiner added in his affidavit. "It was not 
clear whether the Board of Variance, at my appeal on March 2, 2016, 
was certain as to its mandate because they appeared to make up the 
rules and proceedings as they went along."

Mr. Laurie said his three dispensary clients are asking a judge to 
force the board to rehear their appeals and, in the meantime, let the 
stores continue operating past the April 29 deadline.

Provincial politicians have been pushing for pot to be sold through 
liquor stores or pharmacies - not dispensaries - once recreational 
use is made legal next spring, but Vancouver is continuing with its 
landmark regulation that could see these illegal storefronts winnowed 
down from more than 100 to just several dozen this year.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom