Winnipeg marijuana dispensary closed due to complaint from Vancouver

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This article was published 15/7/2015 (1287 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg police have told the man running a medical marijuana dispensary from a store on Main Street to stop selling cannabis.

Nearly two weeks after Your Medical Cannabis Headquarters began selling medical marijuana at 1404 Main St., a group fighting storefront sales of pot claimed victory Wednesday when police told the store owner to stop selling cannabis.

"We said shut them down – it’s illegal," Pamela McColl with Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) Canada said Wednesday night from her home in Vancouver. "They’re trafficking in narcotics." She said she contacted the Winnipeg mayor’s office and the police service on Tuesday to file a service complaint that the police weren’t upholding the law by allowing the storefront sale of medical marijuana.

"They actually did something... They went to the dispensary and confronted the owner and told him to stop selling cannabis."

Owner Glenn Price, a medical marijuana user himself, said he did stop selling cannabis at the request of the police.

But that was Tuesday.

"Today I didn’t sell any but I gave some product away," he said Wednesday night.

"I’m trying to be civil and police about this," said Price. He said Mayor Brian Bowman responded to an email Price sent him when he was first elected wishing him well and wanting to meet to discuss the role of his dispensary in the city. Now he’s hoping Bowman will be able to meet with him on Thursday.

While Price doesn’t have a licence to dispense medical marijuana, his shop is connected to a doctor who writes prescriptions, has equipment to test the potency of the cannabis and issues photo ID cards for every customer, he said. Every customer is over the age of 24 and most are 45 years of age and older, said Price.

He said they’ve been open and above board with the authorities, too. In an earlier interview Price said that the city and the province knew about the nature of the business he was opening. He has a building occupancy permit and it’s registered with the Manitoba Companies office and as a business name. He said he had a letter from his landlord to show the province.

Price, 54, vows he won’t be going away.

He said he started his business because of the poor medical marijuana treatment he was getting through licensed, official federal government channels.

"I’m helping patients where the federal government has failed us," he said. "That’s the reason I started this whole thing." The man who’s married with children said he has about $30,000 invested in the business and can’t afford a lawyer. Medical marijuana users and supporters are holding a peaceful rally at his shop on Tuesday, he said.

"They want to show support for me and what Winnipeg desperately needs," he said. "The federal government has failed us all," with its medical marijuana program, he said.

"I sell it cheaper than any place online and I give a guarantee."

McColl, who complained about Price’s shop, said the price is higher than he thinks.

"We support the government of the day that believes marijuana should not be legalized," said McColl, 57. She said young people’s lives are at risk from the "pot lobby" that’s trying to legitimize its use. Cannabis use is high among western youth and four times as powerful now than when she studied history - and inhaled - in her university days at the University of Manitoba, she said.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca