Montreal police are not saying whether they'll move in on anywhere from five to 10 new illegal, recreational pot dispensaries that are set to open in the city on Thursday.
B.C. pot activist Jodie Emery, who runs a dozen Cannabis Culture shops across Canada, is due to hold a news conference Thursday morning at one of the new locations — 2200 Mont-Royal E. in the Plateau Mont-Royal district — to announce the Montreal openings.
On Wednesday, the police department issued a statement, which suggests that while the new dispensaries are technically illegal under Health Canada's new Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations, they wouldn't directly say what, if anything, they plan to do against them.
Emery says what they're doing isn't hurting anyone, and she hopes police will take a live-and-let-live approach.
"I hope that we won't have any negative blowback from the local authorities because many citizens want and support marijuana access," she says. "And when you have men with guns using force against peaceful, harmless people, it demonstrates that there is an injustice in the law."
She says the new Montreal shops are being backed by one main investor here in the city, and that she and her husband Marc — who's been dubbed the 'Prince of Pot' — have received calls and emails from many others who want to get in on the action themselves.
In a statement released late Wednesday afternoon, Cannabis Culture confirmed the location of 8 of the 10 new marijuana stores it plans to open on December 15 in Montreal. Two other locations will open by the end of the year.
– 1863 Rue Amherst Montreal, H2L 3L7
– 1412 Pie-IX Boulevard, H1V 2C1
– 8870 St-Michel Boulevard, H1Z 3G4
– 7130 St-Laurent Boulevard, H2S 3E2
– 2200 Avenue du Mont-Royal E, H2H 1K4
– 3804 Saint Laurent Boulevard, H2W 1X6
– 1431B Rue Bishop, H3G 2E4
– 4961 Chemin Queen Mary, H3W 1X4