B.C. to limit legal pot sales to stand-alone stores, set personal possession at 30 grams
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The provincial government on Monday unveiled a set of retail rules for recreational cannabis that paves the way for a new network of stand-alone stores operated by the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch but leaves an opening for existing medical-pot dispensaries to legitimize.
However, municipalities will be left with the authority to block any storefront sales of marijuana if they oppose it, Solicitor General Mike Farnworth said in unveiling the regulatory framework.
The retail framework, to be in place for legalization of recreational cannabis by July 1, will allow for online and storefront sales but restrict bricks-and-mortar commerce to stand-alone stores that don’t sell liquor, tobacco, food or other products.
Farnworth said the framework provides a sound foundation to support the NDP government’s priority of public health and safety. But he also cautioned there are many decisions left to be made and the province is waiting for the federal government to finalize its proposed regulations on licensing and sales.
“Some may think that this work will end in July when non-medical cannabis is legalized by the federal government,” he said. “But the truth is our government will be dealing with this significant change in policy for years to come.”
Farnworth said the province’s Liquor Control and Licensing Branch will be given the responsibility to license and oversee private stores, while the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch will be allowed to operate a stand-alone network of its own outlets.
In the spring, the province will launch an early registration seeking applications from businesses that want licences.
Farnworth promised there won’t be a cap on licences, but he vowed that licences won’t be granted without the support of local governments.
Vancouver and Victoria have already set up licensing regimes for marijuana dispensaries, but Farnworth said other municipalities such as Richmond have said they don’t want pot shops in their communities at all.
“We’re not forcing anything down any community’s throats,” he said.
However, the province expects the new regulations will give special consideration to locations for the public to purchase cannabis in rural and remote communities.
In December, the government said the legal age to purchase cannabis would be 19, and that did not change in Monday’s announcement.
Anyone over the age of 19 will be able to purchase and possess up to 30 grams of marijuana for recreational use. It will be allowed anywhere people can legally smoke tobacco or use vaping products, though it will be illegal in vehicles and in places frequented by children, including beaches, parks and playgrounds.
Farnworth said the government will create a 90-day driving ban for drug-impaired drivers. He also promised increased training for police to recognize impairment.
In alignment with federal law on cultivation, B.C.’s regulations will allow citizens to grow up to four cannabis plants per household of their own, though it will restrict growers from placing plants where they could be seen by the public. It will give landlords and strata corporations the authority to restrict or ban cultivation.
B.C. Liberal public safety critic Mike Morris characterized the framework as dithering by the NDP because it doesn’t include an implementation plan.
“This announcement leaves a lot of questions to be answered at a later date, which is very concerning,” Morris said in a statement. “We’re five months away from legalization coming into effect and we’re still only seeing part of a plan.”
Cannabis activist Dana Larsen said the provincial framework appears headed in the right direction by not allowing cannabis sales alongside alcohol or tobacco and opening a pathway for existing dispensaries to transition into legal operation.
“Overall, I’m pretty pleased and I think (B.C.’s regulations are) better than other provinces,” said Larsen, director of the pro-cannabis group Sensible B.C.
Larsen was displeased, however, with the regulation that he said will allow landlords or strata councils to “blanket ban” cultivation in rental properties or apartments.
David Hutniak, CEO of Landlord B.C., said landlords are sensitive to accommodating the needs of tenants who are legally licensed to use medicinal marijuana, but the prospect of recreational use introduces a whole new scale to the issue.
Hutniak said recreational cannabis cultivation can raise insurance or financing risks for landlords and can be a nuisance to other residents, and his members hear their complaints.
Cannabis lawyer Kirk Tousaw said tenants would likely have little recourse to challenge a prohibition since landlords can write contracts with tenants restricting a whole host of activities, as long as a prohibition doesn’t violate human rights legislation.
However, he argued there is plenty of evidence to show cannabis can be safely grown in an apartment and suggested the opposition is being guided by “stigma (and is) part of a continued patter of reefer madness” around marijuana.
Tousaw, with his own firm Tousaw Law Corp., said the regulations create opportunities for people who are in B.C.’s thriving underground cannabis business to come out into the open in a legal regime.
“If you freeze all those people out, you’re setting up a situation where there’s not a great deal of incentive for anybody doing it unlawfully to go ahead and transition to do it lawfully,” Tousaw said.
Rolling previously illegal operators into legal status, however, poses a legal quandary for others.
“Are you going to effectively legitimize the people who have been breaking the law?” asked Tony Wilson, a lawyer with the Vancouver firm Boughton Law.
Operators of illegal dispensaries will not be excluded from consideration for a licence, nor will a record of low-risk criminal activity, according to Farnworth’s announcement. However, involvement with organized crime will exclude applicants from becoming a licensee.
Chad Jackett, president of the Cannabis Growers of Canada, said his members worry that federal regulations will freeze a lot of established growers out of the legal market and that the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch will interrupt existing supply relationships.
“What I want is to see a more farm-to-table type of industry,” Jackett said. “I want to see batch tracking, lab testing and proper packaging, and I would like to see Cannabis Growers of Canada approved distributors and growers being able to work among another.”
— With files from Rob Shaw and The Canadian Press
Here’s a list of the proposed regulations:
• Pot will be sold in public and private stores, not where liquor or tobacco are sold.
• Personal possession of non-medicinal marijuana for people who are at least 19 will be limited to 30 grams.
• Marijuana smoking will be allowed in public places where tobacco smoking or vaping is permitted, but not in parks or beaches where children would go.
• Adults will be permitted to grow up to four plants per household, but landlords are allowed to prohibit cultivation.
• A 90-day driving ban will apply to anyone caught driving while drug-impaired, and the province will increase training for law enforcement officers to recognize impairment.
• A registration process will be launched for people applying for a cannabis retail licence, but licences will not be issued without the support of local governments.
• The changes are expected to be introduced in the spring legislative session.
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