Whitehorse Daily Star

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LOOKING TO ENTER THE MARKET – Jordi Jones and her husband, Jeremy, are seen last month at a Business After Hours event.

Business is ready to sell cannabis immediately

The territorial government is still figuring out how it will make cannabis available for Yukoners to buy come federal legalization.

By Taylor Blewett on March 14, 2018

The territorial government is still figuring out how it will make cannabis available for Yukoners to buy come federal legalization.

In the meantime, it’s sourcing nearly $3 million in inventory to make sure there’s product for purchase.

Last month, the Department of Highways and Public Works put out a tender for a space that could be used for a Yukon government cannabis warehouse and retail facility.

As Wade Istchenko, the Yukon Party MLA and Yukon Liquor Corp. critic, pointed out in the legislature on Monday, “the only bid for a facility is $400,000 over the government’s entire budget for the new government-run cannabis corporation.”

That bid was submitted by Waterstone Products, with a nearly $3.5-million price tag.

John Streicker, the minister responsible for the Yukon Liquor Corp., told the house a facility purchase would be amortized over 20 years, keeping it within budget for the coming fiscal year.

However, he told reporters after question period that the government is still “working through the implications” of the bid, noting that it’s for a significant amount of money.

“There will be a way for Yukoners to have access to cannabis once it’s legalized,” Streicker told the Star in an interview this morning.

“At first, it will be from government,” he said.

That could look like a brick-and-mortar store, or online retail. Both are currently under consideration, according to the minister.

The Cannabis Control and Regulation Act tabled in the legislature last week provides the opportunity for private cannabis retailers to obtain a retail licence after regulations are developed.

“We’ve been in conversations with the private sector,” Streicker said, but regulations and licensing still require a lot of work that’s just beginning.

“I don’t anticipate that they’ll be ready to go on day one,” Streicker said.

He would not provide a more specific timeline for the introduction of private retail regulations.

“I wish I had a crystal ball,” he told reporters Monday.

That future can’t come soon enough for one entrepreneur, who said want-to-be private cannabis retailers are stuck in a “holding pattern” until the government clarifies this timeline.

Jordi Jones and her husband, Jeremy Jones, have been writing to the Yukon government for nearly a year.

They have been describing the extensive preparation they’ve done in the hopes of opening “Triple J’s Canna Bliss” dispensary in the territory.

“If they said to us tomorrow, ‘You know what? We’re going to give you the opportunity as soon as legalization hits,’ we’re ready to go,” Jordi told the Star Tuesday.

“We’ve developed job descriptions, we’ve developed our policy and procedures manual, we’ve looked into security, we’ve looked into storage, I’ve designed the entire dispensary ... we’ve got staff. We’re just ready.”

Ready, that is, when cannabis retail is permitted outside of Marwell.

The city passed a bylaw last month that restricts sales to the neighbourhood, for the time being.

But Jones has rejected Marwell as a location for her dispensary, citing accessibility concerns. She’s eyeing the downtown area.

Mike Ellis, a senior city planner, told the Star Tuesday that while the city is “very aware that there is going to be another phase where private retailers can sell” cannabis, his “basic understanding was it was a ways later.”

The city hasn’t been prioritizing any work on cannabis zoning outside of Marwell, according to Ellis, as resources have been needed on more pressing projects.

A zoning amendment takes about two months, at minimum, he said.

“But with some good public engagement” as the city intends for future cannabis zoning, “it’s maybe half a year.”

Jones doesn’t believe the Yukon government should involve itself at all in the sale of cannabis, and should focus instead on regulation and enforcement.

Streicker also told reporters Monday that “when it comes to retail, we are looking to get out of the business of doing business.”

The reason the government is looking at initial involvement in this area, whether through online or physical storefront retail, is because “Yukoners expect to have access to cannabis when it’s made legal,” he clarified today.

That’s why government is spending 90 per cent of the $3 million in start-up funding it’s budgeted for the Cannabis Distributor Corp. on inventory.

The only cannabis currently available for legal purchase is medical marijuana, Streicker explained.

“Producers can’t produce recreational marijuana yet, and once it becomes legal we can only purchase what is available in the marketplace.

“Everyone knows that at that point, there’s going to be a little bit of a run on the market. So we’re working to secure enough supply to be available for Yukoners until such time as the production of more marijuana is available.”

The government is planning to spend $2.7 million on inventory from “a range of sources,” mainly in British Columbia and Alberta, Streicker believes.

“We don’t have local supply yet,” he explained, but also noted the government has spoken with some Yukon businesses that are considering licensed production.

The inventory is expected to sustain Yukoners for a four-month period.

And it will generate revenue, Streicker noted.

“So it’s not money which is wasted in any way.” 

Comments (13)

Up 0 Down 2

Why not drug stores they on Mar 20, 2018 at 3:38 pm

are already seat up.

Up 3 Down 3

AL on Mar 20, 2018 at 3:02 pm

Hm, I still like the idea someone mentioned some time ago of have only one retail outlet located halfway between Old Crow and Dawson City. You want your pot bad enough make the trek.

Up 2 Down 0

Hugh Mungus on Mar 20, 2018 at 12:13 pm

Triple J isn't accessible to those with mobility issues or in wheelchairs.

Up 4 Down 0

Pearl on Mar 19, 2018 at 6:21 pm

Open it up to everyone under reasonable rules. Until the government knows those rules, has them ready, and is confident to do that, we're going to have mail order and a government store. That is fine for me. And the communities should be ready to cash in too, don't hand your dollars over to Whitehorse. Just cool your jets Jordi and Jeremy! The world isn't all about you!

Up 4 Down 3

Alan Boomer on Mar 18, 2018 at 12:39 pm

I think we should promote small business and many outlet stores selling pot. Maybe we can encourage home delivery as well.

Up 7 Down 2

Captain Obvious on Mar 16, 2018 at 3:20 pm

Fully in support of Jordi's proposal. It will happen, just sad that people are dragging their feet trying to stall it.

Up 10 Down 2

Elvis Costello on Mar 15, 2018 at 3:12 pm

Jordi should get her license. She has been looking after what she can in this field for many years. She also looks after Kona's coalition which has provided the community with pet care for those that can't afford it. Jordi has done the groundwork.

Up 13 Down 2

Dave Evans on Mar 15, 2018 at 12:50 pm

Government doing what it does best. Creating problems that don't exist then reinventing the wheel at insanely inflated taxpayer expense to solve the nonexistent problems.

Up 0 Down 0

Josey Wales on Mar 15, 2018 at 10:18 am

Gee bob....I know not these two, nor you...however telling folks to shut up...really?
In the old stock Canada we used to speak very freely, almost like we lived in a 1st world free democracy....crazy eh?
However now we are diluted huuuuuuuge with 3rd world, absolutely inundated with folks believing in compelled speech and stifling ALL dissent. Where you fit into that mosaic of engineered stupidity I am not certain nor actually care.
I say heeeeaps daily that certainly may prompt many to wish “I” shut up and not be given a platform.
I always encourage folks to challenge the lunacy as they see it.
Despite that often I am diametric to said observations, folks are never to shut up.
Introduce some facts into your arguments and do so with confidence, I find that does a very good job of shutting folks up...without ever asking them too.
Enjoy the day bob, I will as well and no...shutting up is not on my agenda.
Volume however, that may increase.

Up 5 Down 1

Yukon Watchdog on Mar 15, 2018 at 9:59 am

How does this initiative work with the idea that government should get out of the business of doing business? This should be left to private industry. Save millions of tax dollars, create an economy driven by the market, allow those entrepreneurs ready to take the risk to take the risk, get rid of the Marwell only location (how stupid is that) and let free enterprise take over.
Small business is the key to growing an economy. Here lies a wonderful opportunity to create a more diversified economy (the first real opportunity to truly diversify in a long time) and government is standing in the way by hording the right to make money off cannabis, by implementing these draconian bylaws (micro-managing at its finest), by using my tax dollar to create more government jobs instead of promoting small business, entrepreneurship and free enterprise. Government should only be on one side of the drug and alcohol equation. PROVIDING the drugs and alcohol (and reaping the related revenues) is the wrong side.
It's the 21st century now; get with it YG. Leave it to small business!

Up 8 Down 2

What a joke on Mar 14, 2018 at 6:41 pm

This situation is so funny, what a bunch. Only marwell? What a dumb idea. Put the tender out city wide, only need small storefront, put the rest online as most people get it now anyway. Will there be cross border issues? Haha what a joke

Up 4 Down 10

Bob Ablanalp on Mar 14, 2018 at 5:13 pm

PFFFT - even more self-serving whining from the Joneses

they need to shut up and the local media needs to stop giving them a soapbox

Up 0 Down 0

Josey Wales on Mar 14, 2018 at 4:57 pm

Funny...if I had 3 million dollars worth of weed stocked up, they call me a trafficker.
Seems our state is above its own laws, that my friends is a classic police state.
Since we do not hold our political blowholes to the same standards, nor members of our federal police force, clearly I now reside in a police state.
Until it is law, it is against the law....
Had a very revealing discussion at M’s fortress with a politician dressed up as a cop this morning, left me with no wonder why we are a crime infested shithole as of late.
I myself am white, speak PC Crusader sans, lick no jackboots or moccasins and openly express my views.
Moved to Regina without ever having to pack or drive...how lovely.

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