Compassion clubs could be exempted from new city pot shop regulations prohibiting the consumption of cannabis on site.
In a motion to be discussed next week, councillors Marianne Alto, Jeremy Loveday and Charlayne Thornton-Joe are proposing that the new Cannabis-related Business Regulation Bylaw be amended to provide an exemption for on-site cannabis consumption for compassion clubs established before 2009 and that have continuously operated since 2009.
In their motion, the three councillors note that the compassion clubs “have operated without incident for decades, providing non-profit service for Victorians requiring medical cannabis, including the option of consuming cannabis onsite.”
Loveday said the existing bylaw puts an undue hardship on renters who are ill and who can’t smoke medical marijuana in their homes for fear of sanctions, including eviction.
“They need a safe place to do it. That’s one example why having a safe space for people to consume their medicine, if they legitimately need it, makes sense. They shouldn’t be forced out into the street,” Loveday said.
During public hearings into the new regulations, councillors heard from several people who advocated for consumption on site. The city’s new cannabis business regulations went into effect Sept. 23.
The first ticket under the new regulations was issued this month to the Green Ceiling, a coffee-shop-style lounge where people paid $5 an hour and were allowed to consume pot.
Loveday said in crafting the motion the councillors purposely limited their proposed amendment to compassion clubs.
“If it really is about medicine then there shouldn’t be profit involved. It should be a non-profit service that’s offered for patients and allows them to consume their medicine in a safe and comfortable place rather than a model that is extracting money from people to give them that space.
“So we’re proposing that the city allows for these non-profit compassion clubs to operate as they always have and essentially to allow them the space to continue the service they’re giving their patients without opening the door to any more of these type of lounges either for profit or non-profit to open.”
Alto said the councillors were careful to limit the amendment to the two non-profits in the city that have been operating for years so as to circumvent others from trying to restructure as non-profits to take advantage of the change.
She said the two compassion clubs in the city “have very unobtrusively and very calmly without any noticeable incidents been providing an opportunity for folks who have had a medicinal need for cannabis to get it and to use it on site. “The issue I had was that in banning all on-site use it, and I think unintentionally so, it penalized these couple of groups which have been doing this without incident for years.”
Victoria council passed the new cannabis regulations to try to bring order to the city’s burgeoning pot retailing business.
An estimated 39 marijuana related businesses are operating in the city, with about 35 operating as storefront medical-cannabis retailers. Under the process now in place, a business licence will not be issued until a rezoning has been approved. However, a cannabis retailer may continue to operate while taking steps toward rezoning.
But marijuana retailers are expected to come into compliance immediately with business licensing requirements, which include: no cannabis consumption on premises, operating hours restricted between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m., and a maximum of two display signs without any images.
Retailers are also expected to meet strict security and ventilation requirements. No one younger than 19 is permitted on site.
In a separate item to be discussed next week, councillors are being asked to make a bylaw change which would allow ATMs to be located in marijuana retail shops.
