A Vancouver company is offering “premium marijuana” delivery right to your door — and breaking the province’s cannabis laws while doing so.
Pot Dash says it can deliver several different strains of cannabis within city limits in an hour or less to those who simply place a phone call and share two pieces of ID.
An operator contacted by Global News referred requests for comment to the owner through email, who has yet to reply.
WATCH: (Aired Dec. 13, 2018) B.C. Supreme Court orders closure of illegal pot dispensaries
In a statement Thursday, the Ministry of Public Safety said such delivery services are illegal and could soon be shut down by the provincial Community Safety Unit (CSU).
“Those operating illegally should be warned that they could potentially receive a visit from CSU officers in the very near future, as initial operations have begun to roll out,” a ministry spokesperson said in a statement.
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The ministry wouldn’t give a timeline for when the CSU will be fully up and running in the Lower Mainland, and wouldn’t comment on any specific cases.
The CSU has been set up by the B.C. government to enforce the province’s Cannabis Control and Licensing Act, including the illegal sale of marijuana by unlicensed vendors.
Vancouver police said in a statement their officers would only get involved if an illegal operation poses a risk to public safety or targets minors, referring all other enforcement of cannabis laws to the CSU.
But lawyers say as long as the CSU isn’t fully active, illegal operations like Pot Dash can continue to operate.
“They’re able to take advantage of a gap in British Columbia’s legal enforcement system,” Kyla Lee with Acumen Law Corporation said.
“We should have by now seen the community safety unit up and running, but as long as we don’t have one, it’s not likely anything can stop Pot Dash or similar companies from operating.”
Lee added Pot Dash could quickly get shut down once CSU officers are actively enforcing the laws, but beyond that, there’s little the province or Vancouver police can do.
“Police could charge them with the criminal offence of trafficking, which is what Pot Dash is doing, but that’s not something that’s happening right now,” she said. “Vancouver police is doing the same thing they did before legalization, which is essentially letting it happen.”
The province says the online BC Cannabis store remains the only legal way to order the delivery of marijuana, which is done through Canada Post.
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