Port Alberni pot shops are taking a variety of approaches today, amidst a cloud of uncertainty surrounding today’s legalization of marijuana.
B.C. Solicitor General Mike Farnworth advised illegal cannabis dispensaries to close their doors if they want to get a government licence to operate a retail outlet.
While a dispensary on third Avenue is closed, and another on upper Redford said they will close today, four other shops around the valley said they will remain open.
Cannabis Club owner Trevor Bertrand said there’s nothing official telling applicants to close.
Bertrand estimates the cost to apply for a licence is around $10,000 – money he’s not sure he’ll ever see again
The only shop in the province officially licensed to sell marijuana is a government store that will open this morning in Kamloops.
The Cannabis Commerce Association of Canada is critical of the way the provinces and Ottawa have handled the legalization of recreational pot, saying they bumbled the business side of the new laws.