BC's oldest pot shop fined $3.2M
One of Canada's oldest cannabis stores has been stung with a $3.2-million fine for selling weed without a provincial licence.
According to a July 30 BC Community Safety Unit penalty notice, The Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club was issued the fine following raids in 2019 and 2020.
However, getting the money may prove difficult.
Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club founder Ted Smith told iNFOnews.ca he wouldn't pay the fine or close down.
"We've been raided three times now.. and have reopened the day after every raid," Smith said.
Smith said the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club, which opened in 1996, is run as a not-for-profit society and didn't have any money or assets.
"We are going to be fighting and appealing this decision," Smith said. "Our patients need us, we are the oldest compassion club in Canada, we have thousands of patients that rely on our services to eat and sleep and fight cancer."
The fine dates back to 2019 when cannabis branch inspectors visited the Vancouver Island store and warned it that selling marijuana without a licence could result in steep fines.
The province calculates fines at twice the retail value of the cannabis sold or possessed at the time of the raid.
Inspectors were back again at the store in the fall of 2019 but the store continued to operate without a licence.
In July 2020 inspectors raided the store and seized $1.6 million of cannabis.
The Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club now faces a $3,235,465 fine.
Smith told iNFOnews.ca he had also been personally fined $3.2 million but the province dropped that fine.
He said he wasn't going to apply for a provincial licence as it would restrict the types of cannabis he could sell.
The Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club has products 10 times or more potent than government stores which he said is what his patients need.
They are also a fraction of the price.
The store was also raided in 2023 but Smith said he hasn't had a fine for that raid yet.
Shortly after the 2023 raid, the Society launched a court case asking for an injunction to prevent the province from raiding the store, arguing Canada's laws over medical marijuana meant that people couldn't get doses they needed to treat their pain. The case is still ticking through the courts.
"It's sad that we have to keep fighting but patients deserve better," he said.
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