Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps is warning that any medical marijuana businesses that have not yet applied for rezoning or a business licence could be shut down.
The city’s regulations for cannabis retailers took effect in November and allowed a 60-day grace period for businesses to comply with the new rules.
That exemption period has expired, and 16 cannabis businesses have not applied for rezoning.
“That makes me mad, that actually makes me angry,” Helps said. “We spent a year working in consultation with the businesses to develop the regulations.
“It really is a detriment to the whole industry that 16 out of 39 can’t be bothered to submit a rezoning application. To me that says they’re not legitimate businesses — if they were, they would follow the rules.”
The city will go to court to seek an injunction to shut them down, Helps said.
As of Friday, 33 marijuana businesses had applied for a business licence, which costs $5,000, and 23 had applied for rezoning, which costs $7,500.
