4 Things to Know About Vancouver's New Pot Shop Regulations

Vancouver’s once again leading the way on green, passing a bylaw Wednesday that makes it the first city in Canada to regulate illegal marijuana dispensaries. Here are four things to know about the new pot shop rules.

1. Locations Will Be Limited

Dispensaries must be located more than 300 metres away from schools, community centres, neighbourhood houses and other pot shops. This means up to two-thirds of the estimated 100 existing dispensaries will be shut down. Owners of shops in jeopardy have vowed to fight the new rules, as has federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose, who's warned the city against licensing illegal pot storefronts. Mayor Gregor Robertson said there was no choice “because the federal government has failed to act on regulating medical marijuana appropriately.”

2. There'll Be a Hefty Fee

It will cost dispensary owners $30k for an annual marijuana business licence, but the city will charge nonprofit shops just $1k if they offer “wraparound services” like nutritional coaching, acupuncture or massage therapy. And it'll be easier for nonprofit compassion clubs that are registered societies to qualify for licences than for-profit shops that merely operate as storefronts. A demerit system will help the city weed out conflicting dispensaries (those offering no patient services get 10 demerit points; more than one complaint about the business results in two demerit points; etc).

3. Applicants Must Be Owners 

Applicants for pot shop licences must be business owners, not corporations, and they can’t apply to operate more than five dispensaries. Owners will face criminal record checks and the shops must comply with other bylaws for fire, health, building safety and parking. The city will not allow the sale of edible marijuana-laced goodies, like pot brownies, out of concern about the potential harm to unwitting children. But capsules and tinctures—for those making edible products at home—are permitted.

4. Others Are Watching

Victoria’s mayor says her city wants to follow Vancouver’s lead in regulating marijuana dispensaries. Lisa Helps told the Globe and Mail staff are looking at imposing similar rules on the 19 dispensaries and compassion clubs in the provincial capital. She noted that Victoria was forced to look at regulating shops after their numbers doubled in a year. And a coalition of 33 Vancouver-region local governments voted to put a resolution forward at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention this fall asserting the right of local governments to regulate dispensaries.