SkyLaw’s Andrea Hill Interviewed by CBC about Dispensary Closures

“People who play by the rules win, at the end of the day. I think that’s a good thing.”

With the proliferation of marijuana dispensaries on virtually every street corner – Google provides a map of “every single marijuana dispensary (active and announced) in Toronto” that tallies to over 1,000 – you can be forgiven for thinking that store front dispensaries are legal.  They are not.

The only legal source of cannabis in Canada is licensed producers who operate under the ACMPR and deliver the cannabis products by Canada Post.  The Federal government is set to announce this week its plans to roll out a recreational marijuana regime that would take effect in 2018.  It is doubtful that these renegade storefront dispensaries will be permitted to exist even with the new regulations.

Last week one of the most popular chains, Cannabis Culture dispensaries, announced that it is shutting down.  Established by the self-styled “Prince of Pot” Marc Emery and his wife Jodie, Cannabis Culture is one of the most widespread Canadian dispensary brands, with locations in Toronto, Hamilton, Montreal, Vancouver, and Port Coquitlam, BC.  Cannabis Culture has drawn extra attention by stating its intention to sell cannabis recreationally.  The Emerys were recently arrested on drug charges and closing Cannabis Culture was part of their bail conditions.

SkyLaw’s Andrea Hill was interviewed by the CBC about the fate of Cannabis Culture.

In response to Jodie Emery’s claim that the shutdown was due to “a government and corporate push to exclude the pioneers” who had taken great risks to establish dispensaries in contravention of the law, Andrea pointed out that many regulated marijuana businesses and the Canadians who backed them have also risked everything to be part of the ACMPR.  In her view, dispensaries like Cannabis Culture are being shut down for the simple reason that they are illegal.  “People who play by the rules win, at the end of the day,” she said.  “I think that’s a good thing.”

Read the full article here.