Nearly 100 Vancouver medical cannabis dispensaries are ordered to shut their doors today, with city bylaw staff out around town, monitoring which businesses will comply.
The city has given the majority of Vancouver‘s cannabis shops until today to end their sales, over 40 operations currently appealing the city’s choice to reject their business license application aren’t exempt from the shutdown order.
Vancouver councillor Kerry Jang said that when the city passed it’s initial bylaw that allowed for dispensaries to apply for a license, shops were told that the vast majority would need to close.
“They know this is coming, this is not a crackdown, I know it has been portrayed as one. But this is exactly what they bargained for,” said Jang.
After giving notice for shops to shut down, the city will begin enforcement of bylaws, with daily $250 fines for those shops that stay open without a license. Fines may escalate into court action if shops still refuse to shut down.
Many dispensaries have said they have no plans to close and are objecting to the city’s commands with a gathering outside of city hall, today, to show solidarity with the thousands of patients, employees and supporters that will be impacted.