Recreational Pot Shops Are 'Blazing a Trail' in Canada

gb123

Well-Known Member
Toronto is getting a taste of what a recreational marijuana market could be as a new dispensary and lounge opens in the city's east end.

Goodweeds is the city's first vapor lounge that also sells dabs (high potency cannabis extracts), bong hits, and other marijuana products — and is one of only a few to do so in Canada, out in the open, despite being illegal. Like buying drinks at a bar, patrons can purchase their products and consume them there, or bring their own. Most dispensaries don't allow customers to use their cannabis on site and make people prove they have a valid medical prescription before they can buy it.

Things are more relaxed at the former pool hall and bar known for being the scene of many late night boozy fistfights. Anyone over 18 years old can enter for a $5 fee.

"We're blazing the trail for the future of recreational cannabis in Canada. This makes a good safe clean place for people to consume this product and it's for entertainment as well," said co-owner Don Briere who also owns Weeds, a chain of dozens of medical marijuana shops in Vancouver and Toronto.

"We elected a Liberal government that's moving toward legalizing recreational cannabis, and we take that announcement to mean that it's here now."

But that's not the case, and the government isn't expected to impose new rules around recreational weed for at least another year. Only companies with federal licenses from Health Canada can legally sell and distribute weed, and only to people with valid prescriptions. In spite of that, hundreds of medical marijuana shops have cropped up across the country — now at an even higher rate since Justin Trudeau became prime minister with a promise to "legalize, regulate, and restrict" access to marijuana.

Related: Do Pot and Booze Mix? There's a Turf War in Canada Over Where to Sell Weed

Police forces across the country are inconsistent when it comes to dealing with dispensaries. The City of Vancouver became the first city in Canada to license and regulate them this year, while federal police in other cities in BC have been raiding and shutting down local dispensaries. The Toronto police have said they won't be going after marijuana shops in the city unless there's a complaint about public safety. Goodwin says a local police officer came by last week to welcome them to the neighborhood.

To the chagrin of many marijuana advocates, the justice department tapped former Toronto police chief Bill Blair, now a Liberal member of parliament, to lead the government's legalization efforts.

Though the federal ministries in charge of bringing about legalization have yet to specify the chain of distribution for recreational cannabis and any restrictions on public consumption, Chris Goodwin, the other Goodweeds co-owner, says it's the right time to get in on the ground floor.

"Most people think the new frontier for legalization is the storefront that sells marijuana. Everyone understands that and that's old news," he said. "Something like this isn't something people are considering, though. How places like bars and lounges will incorporate cannabis use and we are part of the testing ground for that."

This move to establish recreational pot spaces in Canada is an attempt to get ahead of any future restrictions on public consumption, like those south of the border. Though it's legal to buy cannabis in Colorado, public and open consumption isn't. In Washington State, customers cannot consume cannabis in retail stores.

Provincial liquor boards across Canada and some licensed producers are urging the federal government to impose a tightly regulated recreational regime.

Watch the VICE Canada Documentary, The Dark Grey Market: Canadian Cannabis:

Ontario's premier has repeatedly said she would like to see legal weed sold alongside alcohol through the province's liquor control board, which she says is "very well-suited to putting in place the social responsibility aspects that would need to be in place" for the product. Unions for liquor stores in British Columbia also hope they'll be the ones to distribute recreational cannabis.

However, companies currently licensed with supplying and distributing medical marijuana to patients say their mail-order system would work for a the new recreational market, and could be rolled out by them immediately, before logistics are worked out with the provinces.

Until then, Goodwin and Briere say they have plans to roll out more Goodweeds in Toronto and Ottawa in the coming weeks.

"I hope that something like this gets incorporated into the new model. I hope this is a way for them to understand what we're about," Goodwin say. "We need social spaces and a setting like this. Without us doing it now, it might get overlooked in the future models."
 

gb123

Well-Known Member
if these new cannashops can do it we can!
only the ones who have no choice and are sick and can't afford to pay for a greedy system that would rather see them dead than being able to do for themselves!!....

the rest turtle and go where they are told!!!

This is about standing on your own feet after all
No one will save you unless it lines their pockets!!
 

ricky1lung

Well-Known Member
For Ricky....Johnny and any others who complain about medical people...

I don't complain about med people lol.
Is this story about an illegal vape lounge supposed to bolster the claim that you made about lp's being rec?

Until the laws change, they're not rec.
 

ricky1lung

Well-Known Member
only the ones who have no choice and are sick and can't afford to pay for a greedy system that would rather see them dead than being able to do for themselves!!....

the rest turtle and go where they are told!!!

This is about standing on your own feet after all
No one will save you unless it lines their pockets!!

Like the guy charging 5 bucks a head to let you smoke in his ilegal establishment?
How do you feel about this hero charging a cover to sell you weed illegally?
 

gb123

Well-Known Member
I posted a story...I would not use the place myself... Happy now?

You read what he said...The police welcomed them!
 

The Hippy

Well-Known Member
Like the guy charging 5 bucks a head to let you smoke in his ilegal establishment?
How do you feel about this hero charging a cover to sell you weed illegally?
I love it. I'm for Rec as well. Anyplace anyone does something with cannabis that goes against the Gov is ok in my books.
Sounds like an Amsterdam coffee shop...cool .....open more please.
 

redi jedi

Well-Known Member
Like the guy charging 5 bucks a head to let you smoke in his ilegal establishment?
How do you feel about this hero charging a cover to sell you weed illegally?
People are opening storefronts to sell/smoke "illegally". The police don't close them down, why should anyone be worried to grow at home?
 

ricky1lung

Well-Known Member
People are opening storefronts to sell/smoke "illegally". The police don't close them down, why should anyone be worried to grow at home?
That's how I feel, yet I don't trust that people won't get busted.
The argument of the promise to legalize is valid, but who knows what a cop
or judge will do in the meantime. Being left to the discretion of someone who may not share our outlook, but has the authority to change lives doesn't sit well with me.

If you're gonna grow, stay under harpers max for a minimum to be safe.
 

redi jedi

Well-Known Member
That's how I feel, yet I don't trust that people won't get busted.
The argument of the promise to legalize is valid, but who knows what a cop
or judge will do in the meantime. Being left to the discretion of someone who may not share our outlook, but has the authority to change lives doesn't sit well with me.

If you're gonna grow, stay under harpers max for a minimum to be safe.
If your gonna grow, do it properly. Aka make sure nobody can smell your op and dont steal the power. After that, keep your mouth shut....good to go.
 

JungleStrikeGuy

Well-Known Member
Vapor lounges like Goodweeds and Vaporcentral are basically civil disobedience for the rec crowd.

Owners of these lounges need revenue to keep the doors open, and take great risks (less now than previous, but still risks). Chris Goodwin is one of the more prolific people who have done it, and his original Up in Smoke cafe was raided days after opening but he's kept on going, and civil disobedience is exactly what has pushed the movement forward in some respects.

'Selling' has always be on the no-no list, so it's great to see goodweeds pushing the envelope even further.
 

The Hippy

Well-Known Member
Yup anything that challenges the current prohibition is good by me. I'm personally tired of being fucked over.
 

VIANARCHRIS

Well-Known Member
Vancouver pot shop kingpin opening dispensary in Montreal
Posted on 2/8/2016 by James Foster

Photo: CTV News
A Vancouver-based pot shop kingpin says he's coming to Montreal, real soon.

Don Briere, a 64-year-old man with a lengthy criminal record, told La Presse that he is on the verge of signing a lease for a commercial space downtown.

Briere owns Weeds Glass and Gifts, a medical marijuana dispensary with locations all over Vancouver and parts of Toronto.

In February 2015, Briere complained to Vancouver police that he had been threatened by a Hells Angels member over his plans to open a dispensary in downtown Vancouver.

In August 2015, court documents allege the dispensaries had been selling cannabis to teenagers and to individuals who did not provide identification or medical approval.

Recently, The Canadian Medical Cannabis Industry Association has come out asking the federal and provincial governments to shut down medical marijuana shops like Briere's because they sell product supplied by producers without a valid license.

In the interview, Briere said that he should be signing his lease in the coming days and will be up and running by the end of the month.

He added that since Justin Trudeau and the federal Liberals were elected he wants to expand his operations not only to Montreal, but to Quebec City, Calgary, Edmonton, and open more locations in Toronto
 

n3fta

Well-Known Member
Ontario really needs to decide what laws their going to enforce. I'm just 1.5 hours SW of Toronto, but if I were to try and open something similar to this I'd be shutdown before the end of the first day. I'd likely be charged, patrons would likely be charged and all product would be confiscated.

I really hate having opp as our local law enforcement, things were so much better with local police. The opp aren't out there to serve or protect that's for sure, you'd have a hard time finding a marked police car in my town of 20000.
 
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