Recently we wrote about a new vape lounge that opened in Windsor, Ontario. Leo Lucier is the owner of Vapelated Vapor Lounge, and he is about to begin selling medical cannabis in the lounge. We had a chance to talk exclusively to Lucier about his lounge and newest venture.
“I was motivated to open Vapelated so I could make a difference in my community and to help out people on disability and pensions who are medical pot users,” Lucier says.
Although a long-time supporter of the legalization movement, his original idea did not include any plans to sell cannabis, but that started to change after a recent incident.
“My intentions were not to dispense pot. Last week I had four guys from Michigan come in with medical pot cards, one of them was in a wheelchair. They asked me if they can buy and I told them not yet since it’s against the law. I told them it’s a bring your own medicine situation here, and that it’s safe in this place. They told me that they can get in serious trouble at the border. Well, I was thinking if they wanted to get their meds they would have to order online and they would have to wait three days, even if Health Canada recognized American cards,” he says.
Lucier says this motivated him to do something about the situation.
He explains that “I felt bad about their situation. Very grey area. Well I went online and started checking out dispensaries in Canada and there is like one popping up every day. Then I saw the dude with the dispensing machines in Vancouver and I thought, ‘that’s the only way medicine should be dispensed.’ No cash switching hands, all done by debit and credit, even have to put your medical card number in so it can track all transaction. It just made sense.”
He is not motivated by the money to be made in selling cannabis, he actually plans on giving back to the poor and hungry in his community with the profits.
“I would love to have all proceeds of profit to go to the local mission the feed the hungry. We know the powers and the cash pot can generate. Forbes estimates the pot business to be 40 billion a year industry by 2020. You could wipe out hunger with that cash. So I came up with the idea of putting a machine in my vapour lounge and all proceeds of profit will go directly to the mission to feed the poor,” he notes.
Well aware of the risks that come with dispensing cannabis, he does have some concerns about operating in the grey market.
Lucier says that “The Ontario government gave me a license to operate a compassion club for use of medical pot on Feb. 8, 2016. But law on compassion clubs and dispensaries and vapour Lounges are very grey. My biggest concern about the law is how grey it is. Will I be treated the same as if I was in Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Hamilton, London and so on. I have the backing of the people all the way on this.”
Lucier is excited to be offering cannabis to medical patients and hopes his business grows alongside the cannabis movement that he is so passionate about.