Pubdate: Fri, 15 Jul 2016
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Page: A3
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Glen Schaefer

POT DISPENSARIES DISPENSE WITH NEED FOR MEDICAL NOTE

Two Vancouver pot dispensaries are no longer requiring a doctor's 
note or membership from those seeking to buy marijuana.

The Vancouver Dispensary Society runs storefront operations on East 
Hastings and Thurlow Streets. Founder and pot activist Dana Larsen 
said other medical marijuana dispensaries have quietly dropped their 
requirement for medical notes, but he elected to go public with the change.

"We've always required a membership and medical documentation since 
we opened in 2008 - we're the city's third-oldest dispensary," Larsen 
said Thursday at the Hastings outlet. "When we opened things were a 
lot different in Canada and Vancouver."

In June 2015, Vancouver city council made a bid to regulate illegal 
marijuana dispensaries, launching a two-tiered business licensing 
system aimed at weeding out for-profit dispensaries in favour of 
non-profit compassion clubs. Dispensary owners were given 60 days to 
apply for a licence under criteria that included criminal record 
checks and restrictions on where their shops can be located.

As of this month, just over a year into the new regime, two Vancouver 
pot dispensaries had city-issued business licences, and six more were 
in the final stages of obtaining licences, according to the city website.

Fifty-three more continued to operate without licences and were 
"subject to enforcement," while another 34 shops have stopped selling 
marijuana.

Under the rules, clubs qualify for licences more easily than 
so-called profit shops that don't provide additional services, as 
long as they are registered societies.

Larsen said his Thurlow Street outlet was among those in the final 
stages of getting a licence. Both outlets continue to operate without 
city licences.

"Although I strongly believe in medical access, I believe everybody 
should have access to cannabis," Larsen said. "I've always thought 
the medical user should be at the front of the line."

He said society members with medical needs will get discounts and 
special services. Other users will simply require ID and proof of legal age.

"I haven't spoken to the police," Larsen said. "The police haven't 
come in here in the past nine years, and I don't think they'll come 
in any time soon."

Technically, it's against the law for a person to buy pot without a 
federal certificate issued on the advice of a physician or nurse 
practitioner. But dispensaries have long skirted that law by teaming 
up with health professionals other than doctors and nurse 
practitioners, such as naturopaths, who issue certificates allowing 
users to get marijuana after a brief chat about symptoms as benign as insomnia.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom