Pubdate: Tue, 28 Mar 2017
Source: Metro (Vancouver, CN BC)
Copyright: 2017 Metro Canada
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/vancouver
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3775
Author: Wanyee Li

HAZY FUTURE

Pot shop experts and a local city councillor are applauding the
federal government for setting a date for marijuana legalization but
warn its success rests on marijuana prices and provincial funding.

The federal government announced Sunday night it will introduce
legislation to legalize marijuana in April and that the law would come
into effect no later than Canada Day 2018.

But dozens of pot shops in the city operate in a legal grey area and
experts say their fate is uncertain in light of the upcoming
legalization. One marijuana dispensary manager says customers are
already coming in with questions about the decision.

"There are lots of concerns raised by people. The biggest one is
people are afraid the price is going to fluctuate," said Camden
Lowrie, who has worked at The Medical Cannabis Dispensary in Vancouver
for five years.

Marijuana pricing will fall under the provincial jurisdiction,
according to the federal government.

"If the [provincial government] is serious about getting rid of
dispensaries or taking over the market, they will have to have a much
lower price. If legal marijuana can be sold for $3, $4 per gram or
less, that can be very effective in competing with dispensaries," said
long-time pot advocate Dana Larsen.

"But if their price is high, people will keep participating in the
black market as well."

Larsen is the director of The Vancouver Dispensary Society, a
non-profit that runs two marijuana dispensaries in the city, including
the store where Lowrie works. That locations sell cannabis at about
$10 per gram or less, he said.

One of his locations is well on its way to getting a business licence
from the city but the other is running up against a court injunction,
he said.

Nearly a year after announcing its intention to regulate marijuana
dispensaries in the city, Vancouver has issued four business licences
to pot shops and five to compassion clubs as of Monday. It has also
issued 36 development permits for pot shops and 10 business licences
are currently under review, according to a city spokesperson.

But the city can't keep enforcing rules around marijuana because is an
expensive endeavour, said Vancouver city councillor Kerry Jang.

"We've had no support so we're pretty much on our own." He emphasized
that any future marijuana laws will need to be accompanied by
provincial money. The B.C. government should be in charge of
inspecting marijuana stores and testing their product, he said.

"If you want to have proper regulation and proper public health goals
being met, then the province certainly has to step up and take it 
seriously."

If the province doesn't want to regulate existing pot shops, a
Vancouver lawyer says government could open its own marijuana shops
similar to B.C. Liquor stores.

"You don't want (marijuana) to fall into the hands of children. You
want it to be of a consistent strength and quality," said Tony Wilson,
a lawyer at Boughton Law. "By doing it via government stores, you are
accomplishing those goals."

Wilson, who practices franchise, licensing, and intellectual property
law, says the province should slap high taxes on marijuana. "I want
the government to tax the bejesus out of marijuana. Tax it like
liquor," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Matt