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Unlicensed dispensaries are facing fines and potential court action starting this weekend under the City of Vancouver's new regulatory regime.

One of Vancouver's oldest medical marijuana dispensaries is vowing to defy the order to lock up shop by midnight Friday after being refused under the city's new regulatory regime.

“We're not going to close,” Dana Larsen, the founding director of The Medicinal Marijuana Dispensary, said.

“We've not been approved yet,” he added, pointing out that the non-profit society operates two dispensaries – one at 880 E. Hastings, which opened in 2007, and another at 1182 Thurlow at Davie, opened in 2010.

Both were rejected under the city's new regulations for pot dispensaries.

“We were the third one in the city and the first to call ourselves a dispensary,” Larsen said.

The new regulations, adopted in June last year, require dispensaries to be at least 300 metres from schools, community centres, youth facilities or another medical marijuana shop.

The Thurlow location was found to be 270 metres from a learning annex.

“The kids are all under 10 and they're not going to be out looking for marijuana,” Larsen said of the annex.

The Thurlow dispensary has an appeal before the Board of Variance next week, on May 3, so Larsen hopes the city won't try to close the shop before the hearing.

“If they close down the dispensaries, all it will do is push pot back underground to where it's not regulated and controlled – no age limits, no taxes,” Larsen said.

He may have to fight in court if the city gets tough with enforcement measures, he added, predicting many of the dispensaries who have appeals pending will defy the closure order.

“We're being treated twice as severely as alcohol,” Larsen said, adding it reminds him of the 1990s when the city tried to ban “bong shops,” which sell pipes and paraphernalia to smoke marijuana.

 

Dana Larsen.

“They spent thousands trying to shut down the bong shops, which are still there,” said Larsen, 45, a marijuana activist and founder of the BC Marijuana Party.

More than 100 medical marijuana dispensaries in Vancouver are facing enforcement action starting Saturday.

The city's chief licensing inspector, Andreea Toma, said this week that inspectors will initially hand out $250 tickets to non-compliant shops.

Toma said the city can take legal action by seeking an injunction in B.C. Supreme Court to shut down the stores.

Last October, the city refused 140 of the 176 preliminary development permit applications for medical- marijuana-related-use (MMRU) businesses because they were not in permitted zones or did not meet distancing regulations from schools, community centres, youth facilities or another MMRU.

Stores already open at the time of refusal have been allowed to operate for six months while they search for new sites. However, those stores must close by Saturday if they haven't found a new location and submitted a revised application.

Only seven have been issued development permits, with another 13 applications under review.

The city is currently processing three business licence applications; the first licence is expected to be issued within a month. The annual licence fee is $1,000 for non-profit medical marijuana compassion clubs and $30,000 for medical marijuana retail dealers.

Many of the refused shops have appealed to the Board of Variance, which has appeal hearings scheduled until November.

To date, the board has heard 18 of 62 medical marijuana-related use appeals, with 11 rejected, four granted, two deferred to a future meeting and one withdrawn.

Three applicants refused by the board are suing the city, claiming an unfair appeal process.

Melissa De Genova, a Vancouver councillor with the Non-Partisan Association, said Thursday that the crackdown on non-compliant pot shops is waste of time and resources.

"I think it's a waste of time and money by the city," she said.

Tickets with fines of $250 will just be the cost of doing business for the marijuana dispensaries, she added.

As she understood the enforcement measures, tickets can only be handed out once a week.

"That's $1,000 a month, $12,000 a year. A licence costs $30,000 a year," De Genova said, adding she was told that one shop is grossing $3.4 million a year.

It seems a waste of time, considering the federal government plans to legalize marijuana next year, she said.

"I'm all for legalization," she said. "Recreationally, it's no different than alcohol."