Pubdate: Tue, 03 May 2016
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Gordon McIntyre
Page: 4

44 UNLICENSED POT DISPENSARIES FINED

$250 A DAY: Stores Not in Compliance With Bylaw Will Be Ticketed 
Daily, City of Vancouver Says

The City of Vancouver handed out $11,000 worth of fines on the 
weekend to marijuana dispensaries operating without a licence.

In all, bylaw inspectors handed out tickets to 44 medical marijuana 
stores that were not in compliance with city bylaws. The city said 
those dispensaries face fines of $250 a day every day they remain open.

A further 22 marijuana dispensaries that had been operating without a 
licence had closed their doors by an April 29 deadline, according to the city.

Many of those ticketed are adamant they will remain open.

"I am not one who has shut down or will be shutting down any time 
soon," said Chuck Varabioff, owner of B.C. Pain Society on Commercial Drive.

"If they want to keep fining me, I'll keep piling (the tickets) up 
and decide what to do with them."

Jodie Emery, an advocate for marijuana sales, said there are many 
owners such as Varabioff who refuse to shut their doors and are 
considering taking the city to court.

The city's regulations are unfair, unjustifiable and overly 
restrictive, she said.

Varabioff hasn't waited. He has filed for a review with the B.C. 
Supreme Court because he feels he did not get a fair shake at a city 
Board of Variance hearing in February.

He points to a pot shop across the street from his dispensary, the 
B.C. Compassion Club, that received a licence while he did not.

"Their marijuana and my marijuana come from the same source," he said.

Last year, Vancouver became the first city in Canada to institute 
regulations for medical marijuana outlets and turned down 140 
applications that didn't meet the bylaw's requirements.

Among the requirements, dispensaries must be in a commercial zone and 
more than 300 metres from a school, community centre or another dispensary.

Unlicensed dispensaries had until April 29 to shut down or comply, 
and the city sent out its inspectors the next day to issue tickets to 
unlicensed stores.

Andreea Toma, Vancouver's director of licensing and property-use 
inspections, did not return phone calls to The Province Monday.

Pot shop owners such as Varabioff are not sure how the city plans to 
enforce the daily $250 fines.

"If they didn't come in (on Sunday), where's the proof I was open? If 
they come back on Friday and slap me with a ticket for Monday, 
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I hope they have proof."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom