You will have to drive to Kamloops to shop in person, but at least you will know the rules when recreational cannabis becomes legal on Wednesday.
With only days to go, the provincial government has spelled out its rules on pot — which are not to be confused with federal rules or municipal rules or the rules at work or the rules at school or the rules in your apartment or condo. For a substance that is supposed to make us mellow, this all looks very stressful.
In some ways, it was much simpler when the stuff was just illegal. Fewer rules to remember.
Although pot is legal, you can’t smoke it or vape it in provincial parks, near schools, in vehicles, on boats, near bus stops, inside public buildings and within six metres of any doorway, window or air intake. Unless you have a medical certificate, in which case some of those prohibitions don’t apply.
Of course, there are fines to go with those restrictions and all the others, including whoppers of $100,000 for companies that break licensing regulations and up to $50,000 for shops that get their supply from unauthorized sources. And forget about lighting up your new purchase in the store; the retailer loses his licence for 15 days and pays up to $15,000.
As the Kamloops store will be the only one to open on Wednesday, the rest of B.C. will have to order by mail from the government, and there are regulations about that.
Once you wrap your head around all the new rules, they will probably change, because Solicitor General Mike Farnworth warns that this is an “evolutionary process.”
