Pubdate: Wed, 15 Feb 2017
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2017 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Katie DeRosa
Page: 3

LANGFORD LAUNCHES NEW BID TO BLOCK MARIJUANA DISPENSARY

The City of Langford has filed a civil injunction to once again shut
down Green Tree Medical Dispensary, continuing an effort to block pot
shops looking to gain a foothold in the municipality.

"We have filed the civil action on behalf of the City of Langford and
the legal action has commenced," Troy DeSouza, a lawyer at Dominion
GovLaw LLP, told the Times Colonist on Tuesday.

DeSouza said bylaw enforcement officers plan to serve the injunction
to the dispensary today.

The business has 21 days to respond and if it contests the injunction,
the matter could end up before the courts.

If the court finds the business is in breach of Langford's bylaws, it
will make an order to cease operations. "Our position is that the
bylaws apply equally to all businesses and that this is simply a
business that needs to be regulated," De Souza said.

Langford bylaw enforcement officers have already issued a stop-work
order that could see the business fined $200 a day for operating
without a business licence.

Employee Harley Thompson told the Times Colonist that the dispensary
will pay the fine as a cost of doing business.

Langford Mayor Stew Young said a business that openly flouts the law
is not going to fly in his community.

"Obviously they're ignoring the stop-work order. They believe they're
entitled to do what they do in our city and that's not an action that
will be very successful for them," Young said Tuesday.

He said the federal government should quickly put in place interim
regulations, such as giving pharmacies the ability to sell medical
marijuana, until the drug is fully legalized. Young said the Health
Canada system of having licensed marijuana growers send cannabis in
the mail is not working, which is why dispensaries have set up to fill
the vacuum.

"That's why the storefronts are proliferating because there's money to
be made," Young said. "We just don't want a free-for-all with every
single street corner in Langford having a pot shop on it."

Green Tree, at 108-688 Granderson Rd., was shut down by West Shore
RCMP on Jan. 17, the day after it opened. Mounties seized an
undisclosed amount of marijuana but no charges have been laid.

The dispensary is one block from the West Shore RCMP detachment,
across from a park and within blocks of several schools.

"They picked the wrong location," Young said.

West Shore RCMP tried to enter the store on Saturday, Thompson said,
but he locked the doors and asked if officers had a warrant. The
officers said they would be back with one.

The City of Victoria has moved to regulate the capital's 35 marijuana
dispensaries, charging $7,500 for rezoning and $5,000 for a business
licence. None of the stores has successfully completed the business
licence application.

Young said he's "frustrated" that municipalities like Victora and
Vancouver charge inflated fees for pot shops to obtain a business
licence, which he said amounts to a bribe for operating an illegal
business.

A business licence in Langford costs $100 and Young said that should
apply regardless of the type of operation. "You only give business
licences to legitimate businesses," he said.
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