A medical marijuana store the city closed down for breaking a promise to refrain from selling illegal products has reopened at the same location under a different name.
It's now known as the Giving Plant Society - a name that according to the society's website is copyrighted by WeeMedical Dispensary Society which is currently banned from operating in the city.
At a special hearing last month, city council voted unanimously to revoke the business licence for WeeMedical after RCMP discovered products containing THC, the psychoactive agent that makes people high when they consume cannabis, at its Third Avenue premises.
In an email, city spokesman Mike Kellett said the city has not issued any business licenses for a medical marijuana shop and noted council's decision in May.
"Any operations that are not licensed are being investigated and all legal actions against the company and the building owner are being considered and pursued," Kellet said.
WeeMedical had already been shut down twice after the city found it was operating without a business license and then after RCMP seized a "considerable amount" of marijuana and cannabis-infused food.
Rather than seeking a court-ordered injunction to shut the business down, which would have cost the city some $25,000 in legal fees to secure, staff convinced WeeMedical to agree to a court order allowing it to continue operating as long as it refrained from selling products containing THC.
The store could still sell such smoking-related products as bongs, pipes and rolling papers. It was also permitted to sell cannabidiol or marijuana-based products that hold medicinal value but lack the compound that produces the high.
The order came into effect in September 2017 and in March, when the RCMP's downtown safety unit found the time to conduct a compliance check, officers uncovered a trove of THC-laden items - from baskets of marijuana to THC-infused edibles and marijuana in liquid form - even massage cream and bath oil containing THC.
The reopening comes just as the federal government said recreational marijuana will become legal on Oct. 17. It also sets a deadline for city council to determine how sales of the marijuana will be treated within Prince George.
At a Prince George Chamber of Commerce meeting last week, city planning and development manager Ian Wells said staff is anticipating stores will be regulated in a way similar to that for liquor stores, where an application is made to the province's liquor control and licencing branch and referred to the municipality for approval.
He said staff is working on a bylaw to address such items as distances from schools and the number allowed in the city.
"The provincial government will determine who's an approved retailer and the city will deal with rezoning," Wells said.
For the past three years now, city zoning has allowed large-scale grow operations of federally-approved medical marijuana in the BCR Industrial area, Wells also noted.
At the same meeting, Mayor Lyn Hall said the city does have concerns, primarily over how much revenue municipalities will receive from the federal government to cover additional costs, particularly around policing.
