Pubdate: Thu, 18 Aug 2016
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Michael Smyth
Page: 6

KING OF CANNABIS FIGHTS CITY FOR HIS THRONE

Don Briere, known as the King of Cannabis for his 21 marijuana stores
across Canada, has a problem in Vancouver.

The marijuana retailer - believed to be the biggest storefront seller
of pot in the country - is doing a booming business.

Briere says he recently remitted $431,000 in provincial sales taxes
and federal GST in just one month. If that's correct and you do the
math, it means he's raking in tens of millions of dollars in annual
sales.

But not one of Briere's medical marijuana outlets in Vancouver has
received one of the city's new operating licences.

None of his stores meet the city's licensing regulations, which
require dispensaries to be at least 300 metres away from schools,
recreation centres or other dispensaries.

He said he tried - and failed - to locate potential store sites that
fall within the guidelines.

"That's 300 metres in every direction, so 600 metres across," Briere
told me Wednesday. "Factor in all the schools and other dispensaries
and there's nothing available. We tried and tried."

Is the 300-metre bubble zone a reasonable requirement? Not when you
look at how many outlets are selling another popular intoxicant in the
city, Briere argues.

"Go along Commercial Drive and you'll see a bar beside a bar,
kitty-corner to another bar, and they're all less than 100 metres away
from a school," he said. "Look how many places you can buy alcohol:
restaurants, pubs, cabarets, liquor stores. I want to play ball with
the city, but let's play fair."

The city shows no sign of reducing the bubble zone to 200 metres as
Briere suggested. So he's going to court instead. Briere has launched
a constitutional challenge to keep his stores open, arguing that
depriving his customers of their marijuana "medicine" would contravene
their charter rights.

"We have one customer who gets around using a walker," he said. "He
lives across the street from one of our locations and it's a challenge
for him to even get that far. He can't use the bus and he can't afford
a taxi."

Closing the store would be "punishing the sick," he
argues.

In addition to a constitutional argument, Briere also makes a business
case for keeping his cash registers humming.

"The demand is out there," he said, noting he and his 130 employees
give back to society by paying income taxes, corporate taxes, property
taxes, employment insurance, Canada Pension Plan contributions and
WorkSafe B.C. premiums.

"And we're driving business away from organized crime, but they want
to shut us down. What is wrong with this picture?"

There's nothing wrong with the picture, the way he paints it. But
Briere's pot shops aren't the only businesses out there that must play
by the city's rules.

The campaign to legalize marijuana is close to achieving its goal. Now
governments will bring in their rules, regulations and red tape.

Welcome to the real world of running a business. It's not easy.
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MAP posted-by: Matt