Pot shops operating without a business license in Kamloops could face fines up to $10,000 under proposed bylaw amendments.
City of Kamloops staff are asking council to consider harsher penalties for illegal pot shops and amend bylaws to manage dispensaries before and after they've been decriminalized next summer.
While the federal government has committed to legalizing cannabis by July 2018, the city says it will not be in a position to adopt zoning regulations for dispensaries until the provincial government decides on a distribution model (Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick have already laid out their plans for provincial regulations).
In a report to council, planning and development manager Rod Martin said the city wants to prevent illegal dispensaries from establishing themselves in the absence of zoning regulations and then benefit from non-conforming status when zoning is eventually updated.
The current bylaws don’t regulate the sale of cannabis, which is obtained illegally, and all of the dispensaries that exist in Kamloops are operating without a business license.
Martin wrote that the proposed amendments will protect the city’s ability to regulate dispensaries both during the transitional period and after decriminalization.
Martin recommends the city take a hard line against illegal lucrative businesses by implementing harsh fines. Currently the maximum fine for operating without a business license is $200 but staff say the fine amount is too low to act as an effective deterrent. Under provincial law, operating without a business license could carry a fine up to $10,000.
The proposed amendments would also exclude dispensaries from catch-all definitions. By adding specific definitions for cannabis-related businesses to bylaws, but without permitting them, Martin said the city can ensure they will not fit within the existing definitions right after decriminalization and before council has an opportunity to consider an approach.
He also recommends adding a business license category for “commercial landlord.” Martin said dispensaries often operate out of commercial lease spaces, and this amendment would hold accountable those who permit unlicensed businesses to operate on their property.
“Since most commercial leases allow landlords to terminate if a tenant fails to comply with any law, landlords are in a much better position to effect a timely and cost-effective closure of businesses operating in contravention of the City’s licensing and zoning regimes,” Martin wrote.
The amendments will be discussed at the regular city council meeting on December 5th.
