The City of Prince George is looking over its options after a banned pot shop opened under a different name.
Last month, city council voted to revoke the business license of Wee Medical after the Prince George RCMP seized several items.
As a result, the medical marijuana store was re-named Giving Plant Society, which is copyrighted by Wee Medical.
“Any business with that name or associated with that name does not have a valid business license to operate and I can tell you that there are several enforcement options that we are working on both through the civil injunction and through the courts when it comes to fines and penalties,” says Fred Crittenden, Bylaw Services Manager.
While most people believe the closure was due to selling marijuana, it was actually for a much different reason.
“There has been a lot of focus pointed toward Wee Medical being shut down because they were selling marijuana and while that is true, the business license was revoked because they did not comply with the conditions of the business license and acted contrary to a consent order with the Supreme Court of BC.”
“They signed an order in court saying they would not do certain things, they were found to be doing those things and that was the stance of them not abiding by the bylaw or that court order and that’s why they’re license was revoked. It could have been a business that was selling toothbrushes and if they were doing contrary to what the business license and the court order showed the city would have taken the same steps.”
On the surface, it would seem to be a longshot that the Wee Medical-Giving Plant Society umbrella would have a tough time acquiring a business license even if they followed the proper conditions.
However, Crittenden states past discretions like this aren’t always taken into account when a prospective business applies to go through the proper channels.
“First of all, they have to make an application and each one is looked at based on it merit and that decision is made based on a number of things and the legality of the products whether or not their history or past history in dealing with the city may or may not come into effect so it’s very hard to say – that’s a decision that has to be made at the time based on the merits of the application.”
Earlier this week, the federal government announced it would legalize cannabis on October 17th and the city is now awaiting further direction from the province on what the guidelines will be for local governments for those who wish to open a marijuana dispensary.
“Once the province’s law is in place it kind of trickles down and I do know that staff has been working internally towards how that fits within what we have to do and need to do as far as zoning and business licensing – all of those types of things have yet to be determined from the city standpoint.”