Let them smoke weed

By Collin Gallant on October 17, 2018.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com @CollinGallant

Three cannabis retail store operators in Medicine Hat are expecting a busy trade today when doors open for the first time to sell marijuana.

It’s the culmination of years of debate since the federal Liberal government made it a promise in the 2015 election campaign.

More stores are certainly on the way into the sector that is still largely an unknown in terms of demand from the public, considering the substance has been commonly, albeit illegally, available for years.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a bit of a lineup out the door,” said Keith Ahlm, the proprietor of Westside Weed on S. Railway Street near the Allowance Avenue overpass. “Already people have been calling and knocking on the door like crazy.”

Two other locally owned businesses are among 17 stores in Alberta that will be licensed to operate today.

It’s Ahlm’s first business, and he admits the process over the last year to get into the sector, and adjusting to rules developed and brought in at relative break-neck pace, has been costly and complex.

“But I think it will all be worth it,” said Ahlm.

Caelan Hart calls himself a “cannabis educator” and has smoked it medicinally for years to help control Tourette’s syndrome and relieve pain from an old kickboxing injury.

The long-time proponent of legalization and regular at the April 20 public smoke-up rallies in Medicine Hat says lifting criminal penalties for adults possessing quantities of the drug are positive, but there are “a lot of questions about the legal market.”

“It’s a wait-and-see sort of thing,” he said. “I don’t think the legal market will be able to compete with the black market (based on price), but a significant portion of the recreational market will switch to legal weed.”

As for potential downsides, Hart says substance abuse is a large concern, but a larger view is required.

“It’s time we start treating addictions as a mental health issue, instead of a moral one,” said Hart, who says stigma will remain, especially in conservative areas like Medicine Hat.

RELATED: AHS urges public to be cautious with weed

A city public survey last winter asking Hatters’ attitudes about pot found 51 per cent of respondents agreed with the move to legalize weed for adult recreational use.

It garnered 7,100 responses, setting a new record for feedback, but also found a sizable portion, 37 per cent, opposed legalization in its entirety.

Local MP Glen Motz, a former police inspector, told the News earlier this year that the road to legalization and handling by the federal government, was shaping up to be a “disaster.”

“I’m a realist,” he said. “Anyone, whether they’re in favour or not, would be naive to say this won’t have long-term consequences for society.”

As for public use, 57 per cent of survey respondents asked for a total public ban, while 41 per cent called for similar restrictions as current tobacco laws.

As it is, Medicine Hat city council voted to rewrite a public use bylaw in early October, and local restrictions, due later this year, could ban all public use.

Instead, provincial minimums restricting use in all public buildings, five metres from doorways and 10 metres of parks, hospitals and school grounds, will be in place.

Those will be enforced by the Medicine Hat Police Service, which released a statement this week.

It reminds the public that it is illegal for minors to possess or use cannabis, and adults who defy restrictions for smoking in public are subject to $287 fines. Fines and jailtime could be levelled on those who carry large amounts or provide to minors.

Consuming cannabis in a car brings a $575 ticket.

More stores coming

In early October, the Alberta gaming and Liquor Commission announced the three Hat locations among 17 interim licences across the province that would be stocked and ready to sell.

Officials with the provincial regulator have said another 100 across the province could be processed within 30 days and a total of 250 stores in Alberta could open within one year.

In Medicine Hat an initial group of 14 applications has had locations approved by municipal planners, but require provincial licensing to acquire stock and operate.

That group doesn’t include several storefronts where renovations are underway toward meeting AGLC requirements, with zoning applications still to come, or a few major retail chains that have stated interest in setting up in all major centres in Alberta.

Cannabis sales are also available online, to be delivered via parcel post with Canada Post.

In Saskatchewan, a provincial lottery approved only 51 locations in the province of about 1 million people, including two in Swift Current and one in Maple Creek.

Councillors in that town, about 100 kilometres east of Medicine Hat, approved a location for cannabis retail store only this week, but there is no time table for opening the store.

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