The city continues to ramp up its legal fight against illegal marijuana dispensaries and plans to seek court injunctions against an additional 38 pot shop operators and their landlords.
A week ago, the city announced it filed the necessary paperwork in B.C. Supreme Court to seek injunctions against 17 pot shop operators who continue to operate in defiance of the city’s new business licence regulations.
“We’re serious,” Andreea Toma, the city’s chief licensing inspector, told the Courier Monday.
But that seriousness will have to be tested in the courts and could take some time before hearing dates are scheduled. An injunction would give the city a court order to force an operator to shut down a dispensary.
If an operator dismissed the order, the city could then go back to court and seek to have the operator hit with heavy fines or even jailed. Though the city has been issuing tickets to operators, the court action includes the city going after landlords.
For example, court documents filed by the city against the B.C. Pain Society at 2908 Commercial Dr. include operator Chuck Varabioff, his numbered company (1018580 B.C. Ltd.) and landlords Michael and Tatyana Gertsoyg.
“It’s their responsibility to ensure that who they have in their commercial space is required to have a business licence,” Toma said.
Varabioff said he wasn’t aware his landlords were named in the documents. He called it a “scare tactic” and said the Gertsoygs support him “a million per cent.”
The Courier was unable to contact the Gertsoygs before deadline. Varabioff said they were out of town.
Late last year, the city informed Varabioff and dozens of other dispensary operators to close their doors by April 29. The deadline came after the society lost a Board of Variance appeal to remain open.
Varabioff has since requested a judicial review of the board’s decision. Meanwhile, he continues to operate his pot shop and the city issued him nine $250 tickets for operating without a business licence.
“I figured once they filed the injunction, that’s it and then we’d wait for the courts to decide it,” he said. “But, no, they came in every single day last week and they ticketed me.”
Varabioff said he refuses to pay the tickets and will dispute them in court. It’s an unfortunate process, he added, that wastes his time and money and that of taxpayers.
“If I pay those tickets, I’m admitting I’m guilty of something,” he said. “I’m guilty of absolutely nothing and all I want is my day in court, so to speak, and I want a fair Board of Variance hearing. That’s what I’m fighting for.”
If Varabioff ultimately loses his appeals and is forced to shut down, he will likely be operating another pot shop at 2849 East Broadway. The city has issued him a development permit and he is close to getting a business licence.
“People may say, ‘Oh, he’s just being greedy.’ But my main store is my main store that runs all the operations and I need that in place in order to operate anything,” he said.
The city’s move to offer licences to pot shops came after city council voted last June to introduce rules for annual licence fees, criminal record checks and zoning regulations that prohibit a dispensary from operating within 300 metres of schools, community centres, neighbourhood houses and each other.
The city has always maintained the purpose is to regulate the business, not the marijuana. The federal government has promised to introduce legislation next spring that would legalize marijuana but details of how the law would relate to dispensaries is unclear.
“A lot of businesses within the industry are expecting the federal government to change our current bylaws,” Toma said. “I don’t see that happening. I don’t think that’s going to be a reality. I think they’re going to be complementary.”
As of Tuesday, the city issued 313 $250 tickets to pot shops. So far, 47 tickets have been paid. A total of 51 dispensaries, including Varabioff’s, continue to operate in defiance of the city’s new regulations.
An additional 30 shops remain open but are not subject to enforcement because they are working with the city to acquire a business licence.
A total of 34 dispensaries have complied with the city’s new regulations and have either closed or are no longer selling marijuana since the April 29 deadline.
So far, the city has issued one business licence to a dispensary. The Wealth Shop at suite 104-4545 West 10th Ave. in Point Grey began operating last month.
mhowell@vancourier.com
@Howellings
