Last week, Vancouver police raided a \u201charm reduction center,\u201d in a replay of scenes reported from elsewhere in Canada in recent months, raising uneasy questions about the availability of cannabis in British Columbia when Canadian legalization officially hits in next month.<\/p>\n
On Sept. 14, Vancouver police seized cannabis products at the Downtown Eastside location of the Overdose Prevention Society last week.<\/p>\n
Technically, the\u00a0OPS<\/a>\u00a0does not even consider itself a \u201cdispensary,\u201d but a \u201charm reduction center,\u201d with a program called High Hopes that makes cannabis products available to opioid users to wean themselves off their addictions.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really, really unbelievable that the police are doing this right now and putting people\u2019s lives at risk, really,\u201d OPS director Sarah Blyth told Vancouver\u2019s\u00a0CTV News<\/a>\u00a0after the raid. \u201cIt\u2019s just completely shocking that they would do that at this time when people are dying in the streets every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n The Vancouver Police Department alleged that the products were seized from an unstaffed table at a public market, and that no one would claim ownership over the products. But a cellphone video that Blyth took of the raid captured a revealing verbal exchange. After she told the officers the products were being distributed as an alternative to opioids, one can be heard responding, \u201cMarijuana is still illegal, Sarah.\u201d<\/p>\n The Vancouver police later released another statement saying the seizure was not a \u201craid,\u201d but a \u201cvery fair and balanced approach\u201d to trafficking of illegal substances in public spaces, according to the\u00a0Vancouver Sun<\/a>. The statement also listed the confiscated products, including 50 CBD pills, 35 pre-rolled joints, five grams of hash and 5.9 grams of bud.<\/p>\n This is but one sign that Canadian legalization, which is set to take effect Oct. 17, may mean a\u00a0paradoxical crackdown on cannabis<\/a>. The lead-up to legalization has seen a\u00a0series of\u00a0raids on dispensaries in Toronto<\/a>, and there are fears that Vancouver could be next.<\/p>\n There will likely be only one government retail outlet in all of British Columbia when cannabis goes legal in Canada next month \u2014 and it will be in the interior city of Kamloops, not cosmopolitan Vancouver. Yet, as\u00a0Global News<\/a>\u00a0reported on Sept. 16., provincial authorities are warning unlicensed operators that a crackdown is imminent.<\/p>\n \u201cLegalization isn\u2019t going to happen overnight,\u201d BC Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth told Global News. Farnworth said the province has received about 100 applications to operate private retail outlets, but that it would take time to carry out the required background checks.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Farnworth said BC is establishing a new enforcement branch called the Community Safety Unit, which will be empowered to seize illegally sold cannabis without a warrant.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reality is this: illegal stores can either shut down on their own volition, or they will be shut down by the enforcement unit that will be in place in BC,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are very confident it will stand up to any legal challenge. It will be able to confiscate illegal product, and it will also be able to administer fines of up to twice the value of that product.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that marijuana \u201cbootleggers\u201d may face up to 14 years in prison. And indeed, that is the maximum penalty for \u201cillegal distribution or sale\u201d on the official Canadian government\u00a0webpage<\/a>, \u201cLegalizing and strictly regulating cannabis: the facts.\u201d<\/p>\n This month, hearings got underway at British Columbia\u2019s Supreme Court, where lawyers for the city of Vancouver are seeking to shut down dozens of unlicensed dispensaries. The city filed injunctions against 53 businesses in August 2017 for bylaw violations and they are fighting back in the courts, as\u00a0Global News<\/a>\u00a0reports.<\/p>\n One figure involved in this case is Dana Larson of the\u00a0Vancouver Dispensary Society<\/a>, a\u00a0longtime activist<\/a>\u00a0who now runs two medical marijuana locations in the city. He takes a skeptical view of the approaching new order, which he terms \u201csemi-legalization.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor regular people to get a permit to grow and sell cannabis at this point \u2014 it\u2019s almost impossible,\u201d he told Cannabis Now. \u201cIt\u2019s very exclusionary and elitist how they putting this together.\u201d<\/p>\n While unlike some provinces (including Ontario), BC will allow private retailers in addition to those run by the provincial government. However, there is no sign that any will be receiving licenses any time soon. Private outlets will need municipal as well as provincial licenses \u2014 and several municipalities have already moved to ban them.<\/p>\n Larson sees something of a catch-22 for private entities trying to break in to the legal market. \u201cYou can\u2019t apply for a permit from the province until you have your city permit in place, and they mostly haven\u2019t even written bylaws yet. It will take a few months at least. Probably it will be early spring before most cities get their act together.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMeanwhile, the only legal way most people in the province will be able to get cannabis will be by mail order from the provincial government \u2014 and it can only be 30 grams at a time.\u201d Cannabis grown by \u201cLicensed Producers\u201d will be available by mail through the newly re-dubbed BC\u00a0Liquor & Cannabis Regulation Branch<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re all in this gray area now,\u201d Larson says of the province\u2019s medicinal dispensaries.\u00a0And he\u2019s particularly concerned that medical users are going to be left in the cold after legalization.<\/p>\n \u201cIf dispensaries close, it\u2019s actually going to be easier to get recreational cannabis than medical. To order medical, you still\u00a0need a doctor\u2019s recommendation. even though it is same stuff grown by the same licensed producers.\u201d<\/p>\n The federal government will continue to oversee the medical marijuana program, while the \u201crecreational\u201d outlets will be barred from selling for \u201cmedical\u201d purposes. And Vancouver, which has heretofore allowed medical dispensaries to operate, is cracking down now that the \u201cgray area\u201d is being clarified under the Canadian Cannabis Act.<\/p>\n TELL US,<\/strong> what do you think Canada should do about its old cannabis companies?<\/p>\n The post Vancouver Raid Highlights Canada\u2019s Rough Transition to Legalization<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Last week, Vancouver police raided a \u201charm reduction center,\u201d in a replay of scenes reported from elsewhere in Canada in recent months, raising uneasy questions about the availability of cannabis in British Columbia when Canadian legalization officially hits in next month. On Sept. 14, Vancouver police seized cannabis products atContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[34,50,5281,1898,4552,81,1138,1244],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29492"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29492"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29493,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29492\/revisions\/29493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Crackdown in the Name of Legalization?<\/h4>\n
\u2018Bootleggers\u2019 or Compassionate Providers?<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: Vancouver Raid Highlights Canada\u2019s Rough Transition to Legalization<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"