Pubdate: Tue, 23 Aug 2016
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Page: A3
Copyright: 2016 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Katherine Dedyna

'CANNA MALL' AIMS TO BE CENTRAL HUB OF CITY'S MARIJUANA CULTURE

What's touted as a one-stop shopping centre for all your weed needs 
is getting up and running at 1627 Quadra St.

The new "high" class collection of businesses called the Canna Mall 
has recently taken over the other side of Gazzola Tile and Design 
building, already occupied at 1625 Quadra by the Green Ceiling vapour 
lounge for bring-yourown bud at $5 an hour.

It stocks everything from $10 slices of potent banana bread to pocket 
vapourizers and butane hash oil by the gram under carefully tended counters.

To get the word out on everything from pot-infused erotic oil to 
hydroponic and extraction equipment yet to come, a huge digital sign 
advertising the "euphoric" Canna Mall faces southbound traffic on the 
Patricia Bay Highway.

The casino-style billboard blares its message in stark contrast to 
the subdued exterior of the fashionable Gazzola building, where a 
tiny sign reading "Welcome to the Canna Mall" is taped to the glass 
and wooden front doors.

It's possibly the first marijuana mall in North America, but 
definitely "the first in Canada," said Nicole Little, operations 
manager for Skunk & Panda's Shatter Shack, which showcases 60 
cannabis-derived extracts for sale. Little said Monday that she is 
hopeful that the marijuanamall will give Victoria city officials some 
kind of assurance of a business model selling top-quality 
concentrated marijuana extracts tested to be free of residual heavy 
metals for instance.

"We have on-site security and we are not about selling to children," 
Little stressed. "We're about bringing cannabis into the open market."

The mall promotes craft cannabis, along the lines of craft beer, she 
said, doing away with people needing to use drug dealers or dicey 
products, she said. "We're trying to promote cannabis as part of our 
day to day," she added.

Coun. Jeremy Loveday doesn't take issue with it being the first such 
mall in Canada, because "marijuana is still an illegal substance," 
adding he was taken aback by the digital billboard advertising pot 
but not much else to do with dispensaries and marijuana-related 
businesses popping up in Victoria.

Mayor Lisa Helps said in May that she was "not OK" with the Green 
Ceiling, which opened April 18 as the city's first coffee house for 
pot, with patrons over 19 paying $5 an hour at the business.

As for the Canna Mall: "Council has not favoured any enforcement 
until the city's regime is constructed. This type of operation is 
being examined now as the city's regulatory regime is nearing 
completion," said Helps in an email to the Times Colonist.

Victoria will hold a public hearing on new marijuana dispensary 
regulations on Sept. 8, after which council and city staff will seek 
compliance with the new regime, she added.

None of the new businesses is licensed.

"It's quite a big building and they're looking to fill the entire 
building," said Jenny Farkas, president of the North Park 
Neighbourhood Association. She heard about it from a concerned 
resident, but said the association is not going to comment on the new 
mall until the city's regulations have been passed.

"I'm hoping all the dispensaries will come into compliance with our 
bylaw without a struggle," Loveday said.

Ashley Abraham, who runs the Green Ceiling, said the incoming 
bud-related businesses along with the nearby Vinyl Envy record store 
are adding a more positive vibe to the block, "drawing a crowd into 
the area that wasn't there before, people interested in arts and 
culture. It's just starting to get out that we're there."

Abraham said she has tried to apply for a business licence though the 
city doesn't have a category, but she says what her clientele do is 
"not a police-able action." Victoria police could not be reached for comment.

Ottawa plans to legalize and regulate marijuana in the spring of 2017.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom