Medical marijuana dispensary pilot project considered by White Rock city council

The City of White Rock, B.C. is looking into launching a pilot medicinal marijuana dispensary project after the idea was proposed by a local business owner.

There are currently no medical pot dispensaries in White Rock, but Randy Caine, who owns the store Hempyz and is part of the local Releaf Compassion Center, believes they will inevitably come.

Caine recently presented a proposal to city council to develop a governance framework for dispensaries. This way, it can be prepared for any of the businesses possibly opening up in the city. 

Vancouver, Caine points out, had to find a way to regulate dispensaries after they were already established.

"Vancouver, I believe, waited too long and now they're really trying to play catch up with a hundred dispensaries in town that run by all sorts of their own made-up mechanisms of governance," Caine told On the Coast.

"I don't think our community really ought to go that route."

Caine, who used to run a dispensary in Langley, B.C., currently delivers medical marijuana to people's homes. But he says a storefront is preferred.

"What I did notice when we did have a storefront is it gave people some of the autonomy back over their lives," he said.

"They didn't have to wait on me, or structure their days around me."

White Rock city council have voted to direct staff to look into the viability of a pilot dispensary project.

Listen to the interview: White Rock considers medicinal pot dispensary project