Bobby Kennedy sells skateboards for a living, and, up until this week, he was also selling medical marijuana from his Pandosy Street business.
That is, until the City of Kelowna shut him down — one of the last dispensaries in the city forced to close its doors.
“As far as I’m concerned, the city is completely blowing it on doing these types of things — not just by shutting me down — it’s by shutting down access to the people,” Kennedy said.
The City of Kelowna said, as the October 17 date approaches for legalization, it’s about six weeks away from coming up with a plan.
It said the layout is going to look similar to that of retail liquors stores – requiring bylaw amendments. And some of the dispensaries may be allowed to operate in the downtown core — something of a surprise, seeing that the downtown dispensaries were some of the first to be shutdown.
Legal access to marijuana isn’t going to happen overnight in Kelowna. The city said it could be as late as the middle of next year before the dispensaries are allowed to open.
In the meantime, the city said there is a legal alternative.
“The medical access is through an on-line and so that’s the legal way today and will continue to be the legal way in the interim,” Ryan Smith of the City of Kelowna said.