Once again, Vancouver’s live-and-let live pot culture has attracted the interest of a major U.S. media outlet.
Today, the New York Times has posted the following headline on its website: ‘Vancouver, Canada’s Marijuana Capital, Struggles to Tame the Black Market’.
Naturally, reporter Dan Bilefsky paid a visit to Vancouver cannabis entrepreneur Don Briere.
The owner of Weeds Glass and Gifts explained to Bilefsky that he’s planning to expand his line of canine marijuana products.
In the past, he has not paid much attention to legal restrictions on his desire to sell weed.
Back in 2004, Briere flouted the pot prohibitionists by opening a cafe on Commercial Drive called Da Kine, which was raided by Vancouver police.
As a Marijuana party candidate, Briere was once forced to campaign from jail.
Nowadays, he’s not showing any discernible distress about attempts by the feds and the provinces to control the wholesale distribution of cannabis. This will have an impact on which legal strains are available to the public.
Politicians like B.C. solicitor general Mike Farnworth and federal border security minister Bill Blair want to ensure that only those with licenses operate in the retail sphere.
Briere, however, remains skeptical over whether this will work as it’s intended.
‘The government taking over the cannabis trade is like asking a farmer to build airplanes,’ the long-time pot crusader told the New York Times.
The article revealed that Briere has closed nine stores, including some in Ontario, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. And he’s applied for government licences.
But his other stores remain open.
This is the case even as other dispensary owners are playing it safe by holding off on selling weed openly as they await the outcome of the province’s licence-application process.
