A local Cannabis store worker is speaking out against two sections of the Cannabis Act due to concerns that the policies impede staff safety.
Kristi Young is the General Manager of Zagas Cannabis shop, she says sections 29 and 30 of the Act (Subdivision A- Promotion), which prohibits pot shops from displaying products or accessories in a way that can be seen by outsiders are putting staff at a higher risk of theft.
Because of these policies, cannabis stores use frosted glass to keep the public from being able to look in the store, however, Young says this impedes her teams’ ability to spot a potential burglary early because they can’t see through the window.
“There was someone within the cannabis community in Calgary, Alberta that recently had a situation like this occur. It’s just something that needs to be brought to people’s attention that we should be more normalized and looked at like a liquor store like we don’t need these window coverings, cannabis has been legal for three years. The window coverings really cause a safety risk for staff and customers,” she explained.
She says much like liquor stores, cannabis shops operate at a high risk of burglary and theft.
Young also says the policy that requires cannabis and related products to be hidden from shop windows is keeping the product from being normalized in Canadian society.
“The fact that it has to be still hidden and taboo behind a frosted window pane is just silly it’s been legal for three years and nothing crazy has happened. And again, it’s a safety concern, it has to do with the fact that if someone were to come in and a robbery was to occur, a person could be walking by and they could have no idea that people inside need help,” she added.
Recently, the rules were slightly amended so that stores don’t need to have covered windows if they can keep all products completely out of sight from the general public.
However, Young says this brings cannabis workers back to square one because they’ll likely still need windows to be blocked which keeps outsiders from witnessing a potential crime and coming in to help.
“It’s so weird in the rules being that you can remove the (window coverings), but you can’t see in if there’s accessories or cannabis visible so again you’d just have to change your whole floor plan to make that happen. I don’t understand why it’s so bad to have cannabis or accessories visible if it’s a regulated thing just like alcohol.”
Young says many of her colleagues that work in the cannabis industry agree that the rule is outdated and needs to be removed from the Cannabis Act.
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