Cannabis now legal in Canada
Hespeler headshop owner sees challenges as pot legalized
“Basically, we are setting an example to what stores can be like in the future.” MARK REGO Village Headshop and Lounge
CAMBRIDGE — So this is forward progress, right?
Starting Wednesday, Ontario residents over 19 can legally purchase recreational pot — but for now only online, from the Ontario Cannabis Store, for home delivery — as non-medical use of cannabis becomes legal across Canada after 95 years of marijuana prohibition.
“Honestly, I think it’s going to be a little bit of a backwards effect,” said Mark Rego, owner of Village Headshop and Lounge on Queen Street in Hespeler.
“They’re putting everything online for private sales. It’s not going to eliminate the black market. They’re going to create a bigger black market because people don’t want to put their personal information online.”
The province holds a monopoly on online recreational cannabis sales, even after April, when hundreds of strictly regulated private retail stores could be open for business after being selected by the province to sell recreational cannabis.
Rego’s Village Headshop, which opened about four months ago, aims to grab one of those soon-to-come licences to be a legal cannabis dealer.
That’s why, Rego said, the shop stopped being an illegal dispensary a month and a half ago. The Progres-
sive Conservative government let it be known that outlaw dispensaries that continue to sell cannabis after Wednesday will be barred from obtaining a private retail licence.
A Waterloo Regional Police officer had already delivered, as Rego put it, what was essentially a cease-and-desist talk to the Village Headshop.
“Our lawyer told us that if we get raided, we can’t go for privatization,” he said on Tuesday. “That’s why we pulled out of the dispensary part, so we have the right to still apply.”
So what will the volunteer-staffed Village Headshop do as it awaits word on a spring retail licence from the government?
It will continue to do patient licensing through affiliated NamasteMD, which bills itself as Canada’s first online medical cannabis consultation app — allowing most users to easily obtain a medical cannabis prescription. Namaste’s subsidiary Cannmart last month announced it had received a medical cannabis sales-only licence from Health Canada.
Rego, a Cambridge native and father of young children, also intends to continue selling cannabidiol, or CBD products, to anyone over 19 with pre-existing medical conditions or who wants to improve their health. CBD products occupy a grey area for cannabis legalization.
“CBD is the non-psychoactive ingredient in the cannabis plant,” Rego said. “It’s actually got numerous health benefits that the government is saying there are zero benefits to.”
Rego said his shop will make an educational effort in the community and teach people how to properly dose with cannabis. He also wants to continue to run his store the “right way” with a clean, professional look and regular hours of operation, “as a dispensary should.”
“Basically, we are setting an example to what stores can be like in the future,” he said.
In the future, Rego aims to have a retail cannabis licence. But this week, with a “So High” comedy show advertised on Facebook for his shop’s 420 lounge on Friday, legalization brings uncertainty about his chances. Municipalities like Cambridge have until Jan. 22 to “opt out” of allowing legal pot shops within their borders. But they can still “opt in” at a later date.
Questions seem to pile up as quickly as answers.
“A lot more hoops,” Rego said of what lies ahead. “A lot more reverse effect. A lot more problems because nobody’s going to know what to do.”