Pubdate: Fri, 15 Jul 2016
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Glen Schaefer
Page: 3

VANCOUVER POT SELLER DISPENSES WITH MEDICAL NOTE REQUIREMENT

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."

The federal law on medical use of marijuana has long been about as
tight as a screen door. 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: Matt