- 注册
- 2002-10-07
- 消息
- 402,176
- 荣誉分数
- 76
- 声望点数
- 0
Tom Poirier, the owner of an army surplus store in a strip mall off Merivale Road, watched with curiosity as a new business prepared to open next door.
Poirier discussed the odd renovations with Bill Chappell, who owns a hobby shop in the mall on Roydon Place. The front room of the new business had a sliding window in the middle of the back wall.
“I was joking around with Bill,” says Poirier. “I said, ‘You see that wall and the window? I betcha they’re going to sell drugs!”
He pauses, shaking his head. “And sure enough, that’s what they’re doing.”
The tenant next door is CannaGreen, one of the city’s newest marijuana dispensaries. The back room at CannaGreen contains an ATM machine and a couple of display cases filled with dried weed and cannabis-laced cookies, brownies, candy and cola with names like Grow-op Grape.
Neither Poirier nor Chappell oppose marijuana. “I drink alcohol, so I’m not going to point a finger,” says Chappell, who describes himself as a “live and let live kind of guy.”
But they are dumfounded that a shop illegally selling pot can operate freely. Would someone be able to open a store selling moonshine? wonders Chappell. “How can this be possible? Everybody I’ve told just can’t believe it, they just about fall over.”
Chappell’s store shares a common wall with CannaGreen. The smell of pot now permeates The Hobby Centre, wafting across the shelves of model toys, trains and planes. His customers are complaining. He’s afraid elderly shoppers and families with children will stay away, unnerved by what’s for sale next door.
Chappell complained to his city councillor, Keith Egli, whose office referred the complaint to Ottawa police. CannaGreen isn’t breaking any city licensing bylaws because there are none that apply to illegal pot shops.
The dispensaries are opening across the country, their owners emboldened by the federal government’s promise to legalize recreational pot. They operate in what some have dubbed a “legal limbo.” Police in some jurisdictions are reluctant to enforce drug laws when pot may soon be legal, and there is growing public acceptance both of marijuana use and its sale in stores.
The CannaGreen marijuana dispensary opened at 33 Roydon Place, off Merivale Road, in mid September.
The CannaGreen marijuana dispensary opened at 33 Roydon Place, off Merivale Road, in mid September. –
There are about 15 dispensaries in Ottawa. Dispensaries are illegal, selling products from the black market that may be unsafe, according to the federal government. Ottawa police say they are investigating, and consulting with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, which is responsible for prosecuting drug crimes.
In the meantime, city councillors have asked staff for more information about what, if anything, the city can do about the shops.
Like other municipalities across the country, Ottawa is preparing for a new world of legal pot. The federal government will set the framework for who will be allowed to grow, distribute and sell marijuana. But it will be left to municipalities and police forces to enforce the law, set licensing and zoning rules, and oversee public health issues.
“There will be a lot of impact on municipalities,” says Lynn Dollin, president of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO). She lists some of the services under municipal control that will play a role: police and fire departments; paramedics; building inspection, bylaw and land-use planning departments; and public health units.
“There could be some good (impacts) too,” says Dollin, who is the deputy mayor of Innisfil, on the shore of Lake Simcoe just south of Barrie. “I’m not saying they are all going to be negative. There could be some jobs and economic growth.”
AMO has set up a task force to find out what’s happening in American cities where marijuana is legal, and to lobby the federal government to make sure municipalities are consulted about the law that is supposed to be introduced this spring.
“What has happened in the past, more often than not,” says Dollin, “when something new rolls out, the responsibility for it to work falls on municipal governments, without any funding to make that happen.”
Several municipalities in B.C. are calling for a share of the tax revenue the federal government will collect from pot sales.
Other cities aren’t waiting for legalization to try to control the spread of dispensaries. Vancouver and Victoria have adopted zoning and licensing bylaws for the illegal shops, and Toronto plans to discuss the idea next month.
Vancouver led the way in June 2015. The Vancouver bylaws require dispensaries to obtain a business licence and set rules for their operation. For example, dispensaries must be at least 300 metres from each other, schools and community centres, and have video surveillance and security systems. Employees must have police checks. Shops can’t contain ATM machines and must close between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. They are not allowed to sell to minors, or have marijuana-related advertisements or displays that can be seen by minors outside the building. Most controversially, shops are banned from selling edibles like brownies, cookies and candy, products that might be attractive to children.
Many of the pot shops have ignored the bylaws. According to recent statistics released by the City of Vancouver, 32 marijuana stores voluntarily closed or stopped selling marijuana, but 57 shops are still operating and “subject to enforcement.” The city has issued 691 tickets at $250 a pop, but only 140 have been paid. The city has also filed 27 court injunctions against shops that have not complied. Only four business licences have been awarded. Several dozen applications are processing.
At the City of Ottawa, there appears to be little political appetite for introducing regulations before marijuana is legal. Staff have advised against it.
“The legal advice from the city is that we can’t regulate an illegal activity,” says Coun. Riley Brockington, who is concerned about the dispensary on Laperriere Avenue in his ward across the street from a school. Brockington says he’s sympathetic to patients who need medical marijuana. But if shops are eventually allowed, the city needs to ensure they are not close to residential areas and schools, he says. The Vancouver bylaw is a good starting point for a community discussion, he adds.
Dispensaries are subject to the city’s zoning laws, says Brockington. Bylaw officers consider them to be retail operations. The owner of the dispensary on Laperriere was sent a notice in August warning him the shop violates zoning for that street, says Brockington.
Most of the dispensaries are in areas that permit retail stores, according to the city.
The Public Health Department has also become involved because it regulates the sale of food. Last spring, after receiving a complaint, health inspectors visited a Weeds dispensary on Montreal Road and checked the temperature of the fridge holding the cannabis brownies and cookies. That store temporarily closed after Canada Post seized boxes of cannabis products that were mailed to it from B.C.
Coun. Rick Chiarelli says dispensaries should not be allowed to evade city bylaws because they operate in violation of federal drug laws. “I don’t think anyone should use the fact that they’re breaking one law as a free pass on the other laws.
“This is a fairness issue, it isn’t even a marijuana issue. It’s a fairness issue, and a community planning issue.”
The dispensary owners are employing a faulty business model, says Chiarelli. “These people look like they are setting up businesses on the faulty assumption that they are going to be allowed to continue in business once (marijuana) is legalized, and I think that’s a foolish assumption. If you think the federal government is going to let (the dispensaries) collect money from this and not them, I think you’re dreaming.”
CannaGreen did not respond to an email request for information, and the man who answered the phone at the number on the website said he would phone back later, but did not. The staffer on duty Friday afternoon refused to comment. A dozen customers, mainly young men, made their purchases and hopped in cars. “This isn’t legal?” asked one.
A young woman in the passenger side of a car said she was happy the shop was open. “Hell, yeah, more weed!” she said with a laugh, popping open the can of orange cannabis crush she’d just purchased and taking a sip.
Chappell sits in his hobby shop next door, fuming.
Recently two CannaGreen customers came into his store asking for glasses of water, says Chappell, who kindly obliged. “I guess it was hard for them to choke down the (pot) brownies.
“They consumed those brownies right in their car, parked in the parking lot.”
Lessons from Denver: what happens when 350 pot stores open in town?
The legalization of pot in Colorado has profoundly changed Denver, a city about the size of Ottawa that is now home to 1,054 marijuana-related businesses.
Dozens of municipal agencies have jumped in to help regulate the green-rush businesses, from the fire department to building inspectors, according to Ashley Kilroy, Denver’s director of marijuana policy. She gave a presentation to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario in August that summarized the lessons learned in Denver since stores began selling pot on Jan. 1, 2014.
Some of her key points:
* The fire department has played a major role because of safety hazards related to overloaded electrical circuits, storing of hazardous material and the production methods used for some cannabis products. For instance, fire officials created a permit system to ensure the use of solvents to extract hash oil was done safely.
* The city developed four types of licences: for cultivation facilities; stores; manufacturers of edibles and other products; and testing labs. Public hearings are required for stores and dispensaries. So far, 1,054 licenses have been issued. The city put a cap on the number of licenses to control growth.
* Denver’s 351 marijuana stores tend to be clustered in low to medium-income neighbourhoods where rents are cheaper, causing some concern among neighbours.
* The sales tax on marijuana is 21 per cent. The city earned $27 million from marijuana businesses in 2015, but that still represented a tiny fraction — about 2.5 per cent — of total city revenue. The city spent $6.9 million on marijuana-related education, enforcement, regulation and public health that same year.
* Accurate crime statistics are a “challenge” because marijuana-specific numbers were not collected or are difficult to extract, such as cases in which drivers were impaired by several types of drugs or both alcohol and marijuana. But marijuana-related crime represents less about two per cent of all crime, and has remained relatively constant.
* The high popularity of potent edible products caught officials by surprise, leading to education campaigns to “start low and go slow.”
* Electricity usage in the city shot up.
查看原文...
Poirier discussed the odd renovations with Bill Chappell, who owns a hobby shop in the mall on Roydon Place. The front room of the new business had a sliding window in the middle of the back wall.
“I was joking around with Bill,” says Poirier. “I said, ‘You see that wall and the window? I betcha they’re going to sell drugs!”
He pauses, shaking his head. “And sure enough, that’s what they’re doing.”
The tenant next door is CannaGreen, one of the city’s newest marijuana dispensaries. The back room at CannaGreen contains an ATM machine and a couple of display cases filled with dried weed and cannabis-laced cookies, brownies, candy and cola with names like Grow-op Grape.
Neither Poirier nor Chappell oppose marijuana. “I drink alcohol, so I’m not going to point a finger,” says Chappell, who describes himself as a “live and let live kind of guy.”
But they are dumfounded that a shop illegally selling pot can operate freely. Would someone be able to open a store selling moonshine? wonders Chappell. “How can this be possible? Everybody I’ve told just can’t believe it, they just about fall over.”
Chappell’s store shares a common wall with CannaGreen. The smell of pot now permeates The Hobby Centre, wafting across the shelves of model toys, trains and planes. His customers are complaining. He’s afraid elderly shoppers and families with children will stay away, unnerved by what’s for sale next door.
Chappell complained to his city councillor, Keith Egli, whose office referred the complaint to Ottawa police. CannaGreen isn’t breaking any city licensing bylaws because there are none that apply to illegal pot shops.
The dispensaries are opening across the country, their owners emboldened by the federal government’s promise to legalize recreational pot. They operate in what some have dubbed a “legal limbo.” Police in some jurisdictions are reluctant to enforce drug laws when pot may soon be legal, and there is growing public acceptance both of marijuana use and its sale in stores.
The CannaGreen marijuana dispensary opened at 33 Roydon Place, off Merivale Road, in mid September.
The CannaGreen marijuana dispensary opened at 33 Roydon Place, off Merivale Road, in mid September. –
There are about 15 dispensaries in Ottawa. Dispensaries are illegal, selling products from the black market that may be unsafe, according to the federal government. Ottawa police say they are investigating, and consulting with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, which is responsible for prosecuting drug crimes.
In the meantime, city councillors have asked staff for more information about what, if anything, the city can do about the shops.
Like other municipalities across the country, Ottawa is preparing for a new world of legal pot. The federal government will set the framework for who will be allowed to grow, distribute and sell marijuana. But it will be left to municipalities and police forces to enforce the law, set licensing and zoning rules, and oversee public health issues.
“There will be a lot of impact on municipalities,” says Lynn Dollin, president of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO). She lists some of the services under municipal control that will play a role: police and fire departments; paramedics; building inspection, bylaw and land-use planning departments; and public health units.
“There could be some good (impacts) too,” says Dollin, who is the deputy mayor of Innisfil, on the shore of Lake Simcoe just south of Barrie. “I’m not saying they are all going to be negative. There could be some jobs and economic growth.”
AMO has set up a task force to find out what’s happening in American cities where marijuana is legal, and to lobby the federal government to make sure municipalities are consulted about the law that is supposed to be introduced this spring.
“What has happened in the past, more often than not,” says Dollin, “when something new rolls out, the responsibility for it to work falls on municipal governments, without any funding to make that happen.”
Several municipalities in B.C. are calling for a share of the tax revenue the federal government will collect from pot sales.
Other cities aren’t waiting for legalization to try to control the spread of dispensaries. Vancouver and Victoria have adopted zoning and licensing bylaws for the illegal shops, and Toronto plans to discuss the idea next month.
Vancouver led the way in June 2015. The Vancouver bylaws require dispensaries to obtain a business licence and set rules for their operation. For example, dispensaries must be at least 300 metres from each other, schools and community centres, and have video surveillance and security systems. Employees must have police checks. Shops can’t contain ATM machines and must close between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. They are not allowed to sell to minors, or have marijuana-related advertisements or displays that can be seen by minors outside the building. Most controversially, shops are banned from selling edibles like brownies, cookies and candy, products that might be attractive to children.
Many of the pot shops have ignored the bylaws. According to recent statistics released by the City of Vancouver, 32 marijuana stores voluntarily closed or stopped selling marijuana, but 57 shops are still operating and “subject to enforcement.” The city has issued 691 tickets at $250 a pop, but only 140 have been paid. The city has also filed 27 court injunctions against shops that have not complied. Only four business licences have been awarded. Several dozen applications are processing.
At the City of Ottawa, there appears to be little political appetite for introducing regulations before marijuana is legal. Staff have advised against it.
“The legal advice from the city is that we can’t regulate an illegal activity,” says Coun. Riley Brockington, who is concerned about the dispensary on Laperriere Avenue in his ward across the street from a school. Brockington says he’s sympathetic to patients who need medical marijuana. But if shops are eventually allowed, the city needs to ensure they are not close to residential areas and schools, he says. The Vancouver bylaw is a good starting point for a community discussion, he adds.
Dispensaries are subject to the city’s zoning laws, says Brockington. Bylaw officers consider them to be retail operations. The owner of the dispensary on Laperriere was sent a notice in August warning him the shop violates zoning for that street, says Brockington.
Most of the dispensaries are in areas that permit retail stores, according to the city.
The Public Health Department has also become involved because it regulates the sale of food. Last spring, after receiving a complaint, health inspectors visited a Weeds dispensary on Montreal Road and checked the temperature of the fridge holding the cannabis brownies and cookies. That store temporarily closed after Canada Post seized boxes of cannabis products that were mailed to it from B.C.
Coun. Rick Chiarelli says dispensaries should not be allowed to evade city bylaws because they operate in violation of federal drug laws. “I don’t think anyone should use the fact that they’re breaking one law as a free pass on the other laws.
“This is a fairness issue, it isn’t even a marijuana issue. It’s a fairness issue, and a community planning issue.”
The dispensary owners are employing a faulty business model, says Chiarelli. “These people look like they are setting up businesses on the faulty assumption that they are going to be allowed to continue in business once (marijuana) is legalized, and I think that’s a foolish assumption. If you think the federal government is going to let (the dispensaries) collect money from this and not them, I think you’re dreaming.”
CannaGreen did not respond to an email request for information, and the man who answered the phone at the number on the website said he would phone back later, but did not. The staffer on duty Friday afternoon refused to comment. A dozen customers, mainly young men, made their purchases and hopped in cars. “This isn’t legal?” asked one.
A young woman in the passenger side of a car said she was happy the shop was open. “Hell, yeah, more weed!” she said with a laugh, popping open the can of orange cannabis crush she’d just purchased and taking a sip.
Chappell sits in his hobby shop next door, fuming.
Recently two CannaGreen customers came into his store asking for glasses of water, says Chappell, who kindly obliged. “I guess it was hard for them to choke down the (pot) brownies.
“They consumed those brownies right in their car, parked in the parking lot.”
Lessons from Denver: what happens when 350 pot stores open in town?
The legalization of pot in Colorado has profoundly changed Denver, a city about the size of Ottawa that is now home to 1,054 marijuana-related businesses.
Dozens of municipal agencies have jumped in to help regulate the green-rush businesses, from the fire department to building inspectors, according to Ashley Kilroy, Denver’s director of marijuana policy. She gave a presentation to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario in August that summarized the lessons learned in Denver since stores began selling pot on Jan. 1, 2014.
Some of her key points:
* The fire department has played a major role because of safety hazards related to overloaded electrical circuits, storing of hazardous material and the production methods used for some cannabis products. For instance, fire officials created a permit system to ensure the use of solvents to extract hash oil was done safely.
* The city developed four types of licences: for cultivation facilities; stores; manufacturers of edibles and other products; and testing labs. Public hearings are required for stores and dispensaries. So far, 1,054 licenses have been issued. The city put a cap on the number of licenses to control growth.
* Denver’s 351 marijuana stores tend to be clustered in low to medium-income neighbourhoods where rents are cheaper, causing some concern among neighbours.
* The sales tax on marijuana is 21 per cent. The city earned $27 million from marijuana businesses in 2015, but that still represented a tiny fraction — about 2.5 per cent — of total city revenue. The city spent $6.9 million on marijuana-related education, enforcement, regulation and public health that same year.
* Accurate crime statistics are a “challenge” because marijuana-specific numbers were not collected or are difficult to extract, such as cases in which drivers were impaired by several types of drugs or both alcohol and marijuana. But marijuana-related crime represents less about two per cent of all crime, and has remained relatively constant.
* The high popularity of potent edible products caught officials by surprise, leading to education campaigns to “start low and go slow.”
* Electricity usage in the city shot up.
查看原文...
