Pubdate: Fri, 29 Apr 2016 Source: Metro (Vancouver, CN BC) Copyright: 2016 Metro Canada Contact: http://www.metronews.ca/vancouver Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3775 Author: Neal Hall Page: 3 DISPENSARY DEFIES CLOSURE Old marijuana shop is not in compliance with new rules One of Vancouver's oldest medical-marijuana dispensaries is vowing to defy the order to lock up shop by midnight Friday after being refused under the city's new regulatory regime. "We're not going to close," said Dana Larsen, the founding director of The Medicinal Marijuana Dispensary. "We've not been approved yet," he added, pointing out that the non- profit society operates two dispensaries - one at 880 East Hastings, which opened in 2007, and another at 1182 Thurlow at Davie, opened in 2010. Both were rejected under the city's new regulations for pot dispensaries. "We were the third one in the city and the first to call ourselves a dispensary," Larsen said. The new regulations, adopted in June last year, require dispensaries to be at least 300 metres from schools, community centres, youth facilities or another medical-marijuana shop. The Thurlow location was found to be 270 metres from a learning annex. "The kids are all under 10 and they're not going to be out looking for marijuana," Larsen said of the annex. The Thurlow dispensary has an appeal before the Board of Variance on May 3, so Larsen hopes the city won't try to close the shop before the hearing. "If they close down the dispensaries, all it will do is push pot back underground to where it's not regulated and controlled - no age limits, no taxes," Larsen said. He may have to fight in court if the city gets tough with enforcement measures, he added, predicting many of the dispensaries who have appeals pending will defy the closure order. "We're being treated twice as severely as alcohol," Larsen said, adding it reminds him of the 1990s when the city tried to ban "bong shops," which sell pipes and paraphernalia to smoke marijuana. "They spent thousands trying to shut down the bong shops, which are still there," said Larsen, 45, a marijuana activist and founder of the BC Marijuana Party. More than 100 dispensaries in Vancouver are facing enforcement action starting Saturday. The city's chief licensing inspector, Andreea Toma, said this week that inspectors will initially hand out $ 250 tickets to non- compliant shops. Toma said the city can take legal action by seeking an injunction in B. C. Supreme Court to shut down the stores. Last October, the city refused 140 of the 176 preliminary development permit applications for medical-marijuana-related-use ( MMRU) businesses because they were not in permitted zones or did not meet distancing regulations from schools, community centres, youth facilities or another MMRU. Stores already open at the time of refusal have been allowed to operate for six months while they search for new sites. However, those stores must close by Saturday if they haven't found a new location and submitted a revised application. Only seven have been issued development permits, with another 13 applications under review. Melissa De Genova, a Vancouver councillor with the Non- Partisan Association, said Thursday that the crackdown on non-compliant shops is "a waste of time and money by the city." Tickets with fines of $ 250 will just be the cost of doing business for the marijuana dispensaries, she added. As she understood the enforcement measures, tickets can only be handed out once a week. "That's $ 1,000 a month, $12,000 a year. A licence costs $ 30,000 a year," De Genova said, adding she was told that one shop is grossing $3.4 million a year. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt