One month to go until pot becomes legal in Canada on October 17th
The Province of British Columbia has listed several cannabis regulations, just a month before pot becomes legal in Canada on October 17th.
These include keeping the minimum age for possession at 19, upping police enforcement measures against high drivers, and labelling cannabis products with health warnings, much like you'd see on cigarette packages.
In addition, illegally selling marijuana to someone under the age of 19 will still be a criminal offense, and could result in a jail sentence of up to 14 years, in addition to provincial penalties of a $50,000 fine and a six-month jail sentence. And for those travelling down south: taking marijuana across the border will still be illegal.
Kelowna Community Planning Manager Ryan Smith says another priority is getting rid of any remaining pot shops that are operating illegally throughout BC.
"The Province will now be throwing some more resources at shutting those down, and the fines are going to be significant," says Smith. "We hope that this creates a level playing field for the new businesses that go through the proper process."
This time last year, Smith says there were approximately 10 pot shops operating illegally in Kelowna, and the City has shut down most, if not all of them.
Come legalization day, Kamloops will have the only legally operating pot shop in the province, and a new online sales platform will also be lauched to allow BC residents to purchase non-medical cannabis and have it delivered to them.
There are currently more than 100 applications to open new pot shops across BC, and Smith says it won't be long until the City of Kelowna begins looking over them as well.
"We will begin during the first week of October, and we will continue accepting applications until December, at which point, we will begin a review process for each of the applications and ranking them to determine which of them go first through re-zoning processes."
Kelowna City Council will be hearing staff recommendations on the City's cannabis regulation model at a public hearing Tuesday evening.
