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In marijuana dispensaries across Ottawa, customers are snapping up dried weed, cannabis brownies and hash, while authorities at every level stand by.
Federal politicians condemn the dispensaries as illegal businesses selling products that may be unsafe. They want Canada’s drug laws enforced, but that’s up to the police.
Ottawa police say they have been monitoring the dispensaries since the first one opened in November 2015. They don’t reveal details of “ongoing investigations.”
At city hall, bylaw officials have been given the head-scratching task of figuring out whether or how to regulate dispensaries. There’s no zoning category for the illegal businesses. And while licences are required to operate everything from a dog kennel to a flea market in the city of Ottawa, officials say licensing medical marijuana is the responsibility of Health Canada.
But Health Canada does not check the quality and safety of dispensary products because they aren’t part of the legal system for producing and selling medical marijuana in Canada.
So who’s overseeing the eight pot shops that have opened in town? Well, one regulator has sprung into action.
An inspector from Ottawa Public Health marched into the Weeds marijuana store on Montreal Road in May after receiving a complaint that food was being sold there.
The inspector whipped out a thermometer and checked the temperature of the refrigerated case (4 C) and freezer (-18 C) that held the medicated ginger molasses cookies, “double-dose Nanaimo bars” and brownies. The temperatures were appropriate. The inspector checked labels on products and confirmed that nothing was prepared at the store, said Weeds manager Nick Dumond. He proudly reports that Weeds is in full compliance with all food safety regulations.
Weeds was assessed to be a “low-risk” business requiring only one inspection a year, according to a statement from the city. Health inspectors look for anything that may cause food-borne illnesses, ensuring that food is not “prepared, stored and/or handled in a manner that could be conducive to bacterial or viral reproduction.”
The other Weeds store on Bank Street is now on the list for food inspections, too. The health department responds to complaints, and will check for food safety even if the business is not licensed, according to the city’s statement.
It’s one of the stranger developments as Ottawa officials decide what to do about the city’s marijuana dispensaries. They range from the boutique-like Weeds outlets to a spartan store on downtown Bank Street down the hall from a porn video shop to a Carling Avenue business set up to look like a doctor’s clinic. Their operators say they serve medical marijuana patients.
CBD Honey at Weeds Glass & Gifts dispensary on Montreal Road.
Hundred of dispensaries have opened across Canada, their owners emboldened by the federal government’s promise to legalize recreational pot.
Ottawa police and municipal councillors are watching what’s happening in Toronto and Vancouver, the cities with the most dispensaries. Toronto police have raided them and Vancouver municipal politicians have regulated them, but neither approach has stamped out the pot shops.
Toronto Coun. Jim Karygiannis compares the situation to the quick and unstoppable rise of ride-hailing app Uber.
He has some advice for Ottawa. Police raids on dispensaries are a waste of public money, in his opinion. In Toronto, many of the stores simply re-opened after police and bylaw officer raided nearly 50 of them in May and June. But until the federal government comes up with regulations for recreational marijuana, Karygiannis said cities have to take action to control such things as where the shops are located and whether children can see the products from the street.
“We have to move quickly, because these dispensaries are not going to go away. They’re popping up everywhere.” Toronto’s licensing and standards committee will discuss the issue this fall. In Vancouver, a year after the city introduced regulations, only a couple of licences have been awarded but dozens of stores have ignored orders to shut down.
In Ottawa, the debate has just begun, and opinions are mixed. Coun. Mathieu Fleury has asked police to shut down the two dispensaries on Montreal Road in Vanier, a position echoed by the business improvement area, which doesn’t want the strip to be dominated by bong shops and pot stores. The president of the Vanier BIA, Mark Kaluski, said he’s astounded the dispensaries have been allowed to defy drug trafficking laws with impunity.
The Bank Street BIA has similar concerns about the two dispensaries that have opened downtown.
Coun. Riley Brockington has asked staff for information about licensing the dispensaries, while Coun. Shad Qadri warns the city shouldn’t get involved in regulating an illegal business. Coun. Jeff Leiper says the dispensary in his ward hasn’t caused problems and is just another business as far as he’s concerned.
In Little Italy, the executive director of the Preston Street BIA said she has no problem with the Green Tree dispensary that recently opened there, nestled between restaurants, cafés and offices.
“We welcome them,” said executive director Lori Mello. “We don’t want to see six on the street, but we see it as another service that’s going to be adding to our list of services.”
The dispensaries appear to be operating in “legal no-man’s land,” said Mello. It would be “ridiculous” for the police to raid them at at a time when the federal government has promised to legalize marijuana and stop “filling the jails with people arrested for petty pot busts,” she said. “We’re moving to a recreational model, so pick your battles in life.
“We know the laws are going to be relaxed soon, so there’s no appetite to charge these people.”
In the American states where marijuana has been legalized, it’s been an economic boon, she said. “I think we have to have them to stay hip,” she said with a laugh.
“We have dozens of bars on Preston Street,” said Mello. “And I think these dispensaries will be overseen stringently, and probably will end up having the same kind of requirements, in the end, that bar owners and restaurant owners who serve alcohol do.”
The longtime owner of a Preston Street restaurant said he doesn’t use drugs himself, but is not primarily concerned with the pot being sold at the nearby Green Tree dispensary.
Twisted Extracts Jelly Bombs at Weeds Glass & Gifts dispensary on Montreal Road.
He just wants marijuana shops to be subject to the same rules, regulations and fees that he faces as a small business owner. “It’s only fair,” said the man, who asked not to be identified. If he sold home-made wine at his restaurant without a licence, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario would shut him down in minutes, he added.
Owners of several Ottawa dispensaries, including Weeds owner Don Briere, said they welcome city regulations because they want to operate as legitimate businesses. Manager Dumond said he’s asked the city for a licence for his two Weeds stores, but bylaw officials told him the businesses don’t qualify.
It’s not known if stores will even be allowed when recreational marijuana is legal. A discussion paper released by the federal government emphasizes the need to restrict the sale of marijuana, especially to young people. It also raises the possibility of controls on advertising and labelling, plain packaging, limits on potency and restrictions on the sale of edibles such as cookies and candy, which are attractive to children.
The federal government has promised to introduce legislation to legalize recreational pot in the spring of 2017.
Weeds Dreamy Bars at Weeds Glass & Gifts.
Buddha + Buddha Pain Relief Cream at Weeds Glass & Gifts.
Canna Bliss at Weeds Glass & Gifts.
Silicon containers for oils at Weeds Glass & Gifts dispensary on Montreal Road.
Weeds Glass & Gifts dispensary on Montreal Road in Ottawa.
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Federal politicians condemn the dispensaries as illegal businesses selling products that may be unsafe. They want Canada’s drug laws enforced, but that’s up to the police.
Ottawa police say they have been monitoring the dispensaries since the first one opened in November 2015. They don’t reveal details of “ongoing investigations.”
At city hall, bylaw officials have been given the head-scratching task of figuring out whether or how to regulate dispensaries. There’s no zoning category for the illegal businesses. And while licences are required to operate everything from a dog kennel to a flea market in the city of Ottawa, officials say licensing medical marijuana is the responsibility of Health Canada.
But Health Canada does not check the quality and safety of dispensary products because they aren’t part of the legal system for producing and selling medical marijuana in Canada.
So who’s overseeing the eight pot shops that have opened in town? Well, one regulator has sprung into action.
An inspector from Ottawa Public Health marched into the Weeds marijuana store on Montreal Road in May after receiving a complaint that food was being sold there.
The inspector whipped out a thermometer and checked the temperature of the refrigerated case (4 C) and freezer (-18 C) that held the medicated ginger molasses cookies, “double-dose Nanaimo bars” and brownies. The temperatures were appropriate. The inspector checked labels on products and confirmed that nothing was prepared at the store, said Weeds manager Nick Dumond. He proudly reports that Weeds is in full compliance with all food safety regulations.
Weeds was assessed to be a “low-risk” business requiring only one inspection a year, according to a statement from the city. Health inspectors look for anything that may cause food-borne illnesses, ensuring that food is not “prepared, stored and/or handled in a manner that could be conducive to bacterial or viral reproduction.”
The other Weeds store on Bank Street is now on the list for food inspections, too. The health department responds to complaints, and will check for food safety even if the business is not licensed, according to the city’s statement.
It’s one of the stranger developments as Ottawa officials decide what to do about the city’s marijuana dispensaries. They range from the boutique-like Weeds outlets to a spartan store on downtown Bank Street down the hall from a porn video shop to a Carling Avenue business set up to look like a doctor’s clinic. Their operators say they serve medical marijuana patients.
CBD Honey at Weeds Glass & Gifts dispensary on Montreal Road.
Hundred of dispensaries have opened across Canada, their owners emboldened by the federal government’s promise to legalize recreational pot.
Ottawa police and municipal councillors are watching what’s happening in Toronto and Vancouver, the cities with the most dispensaries. Toronto police have raided them and Vancouver municipal politicians have regulated them, but neither approach has stamped out the pot shops.
Toronto Coun. Jim Karygiannis compares the situation to the quick and unstoppable rise of ride-hailing app Uber.
He has some advice for Ottawa. Police raids on dispensaries are a waste of public money, in his opinion. In Toronto, many of the stores simply re-opened after police and bylaw officer raided nearly 50 of them in May and June. But until the federal government comes up with regulations for recreational marijuana, Karygiannis said cities have to take action to control such things as where the shops are located and whether children can see the products from the street.
“We have to move quickly, because these dispensaries are not going to go away. They’re popping up everywhere.” Toronto’s licensing and standards committee will discuss the issue this fall. In Vancouver, a year after the city introduced regulations, only a couple of licences have been awarded but dozens of stores have ignored orders to shut down.
In Ottawa, the debate has just begun, and opinions are mixed. Coun. Mathieu Fleury has asked police to shut down the two dispensaries on Montreal Road in Vanier, a position echoed by the business improvement area, which doesn’t want the strip to be dominated by bong shops and pot stores. The president of the Vanier BIA, Mark Kaluski, said he’s astounded the dispensaries have been allowed to defy drug trafficking laws with impunity.
The Bank Street BIA has similar concerns about the two dispensaries that have opened downtown.
Coun. Riley Brockington has asked staff for information about licensing the dispensaries, while Coun. Shad Qadri warns the city shouldn’t get involved in regulating an illegal business. Coun. Jeff Leiper says the dispensary in his ward hasn’t caused problems and is just another business as far as he’s concerned.
In Little Italy, the executive director of the Preston Street BIA said she has no problem with the Green Tree dispensary that recently opened there, nestled between restaurants, cafés and offices.
“We welcome them,” said executive director Lori Mello. “We don’t want to see six on the street, but we see it as another service that’s going to be adding to our list of services.”
The dispensaries appear to be operating in “legal no-man’s land,” said Mello. It would be “ridiculous” for the police to raid them at at a time when the federal government has promised to legalize marijuana and stop “filling the jails with people arrested for petty pot busts,” she said. “We’re moving to a recreational model, so pick your battles in life.
“We know the laws are going to be relaxed soon, so there’s no appetite to charge these people.”
In the American states where marijuana has been legalized, it’s been an economic boon, she said. “I think we have to have them to stay hip,” she said with a laugh.
“We have dozens of bars on Preston Street,” said Mello. “And I think these dispensaries will be overseen stringently, and probably will end up having the same kind of requirements, in the end, that bar owners and restaurant owners who serve alcohol do.”
The longtime owner of a Preston Street restaurant said he doesn’t use drugs himself, but is not primarily concerned with the pot being sold at the nearby Green Tree dispensary.
Twisted Extracts Jelly Bombs at Weeds Glass & Gifts dispensary on Montreal Road.
He just wants marijuana shops to be subject to the same rules, regulations and fees that he faces as a small business owner. “It’s only fair,” said the man, who asked not to be identified. If he sold home-made wine at his restaurant without a licence, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario would shut him down in minutes, he added.
Owners of several Ottawa dispensaries, including Weeds owner Don Briere, said they welcome city regulations because they want to operate as legitimate businesses. Manager Dumond said he’s asked the city for a licence for his two Weeds stores, but bylaw officials told him the businesses don’t qualify.
It’s not known if stores will even be allowed when recreational marijuana is legal. A discussion paper released by the federal government emphasizes the need to restrict the sale of marijuana, especially to young people. It also raises the possibility of controls on advertising and labelling, plain packaging, limits on potency and restrictions on the sale of edibles such as cookies and candy, which are attractive to children.
The federal government has promised to introduce legislation to legalize recreational pot in the spring of 2017.
Weeds Dreamy Bars at Weeds Glass & Gifts.
Buddha + Buddha Pain Relief Cream at Weeds Glass & Gifts.
Canna Bliss at Weeds Glass & Gifts.
Silicon containers for oils at Weeds Glass & Gifts dispensary on Montreal Road.
Weeds Glass & Gifts dispensary on Montreal Road in Ottawa.
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