A potential cannabis retailer in Lloydminster is hoping that the City will come out with regulations on cannabis sooner rather than later.
The Alberta Government released its marijuana regulations last week and the Owner of 20 After Four Ian McCoy attended city council Monday to remind them that a decision has to be made for retailers to open and be competitive in the marketplace.
“To keep the City a little bit more informed of what is going on because they are not going to do anything until June. So I was just kind of seeing if I could fast track that at all because you wait until June before you can even do anything then everybody else is open.”
The Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (AGLC) requires cannabis retailers to have background checks, pay for a $700 annual licence among other fees, get municipal approval and meet specific requirements for the retail store.
McCoy says that the regulations set out by Alberta are straightforward and compares them to a liquor store regulations. However, he believes that Lloydminster will be stricter with their rules than the province.
The Border City will be governed by two sets of provincial legislation and so far Saskatchewan has issued two licenses to Lloydminster but hasn’t released their mandate. McCoy says that he is working on opening a cannabis dispensary when legalization is complete.
“I’m trying for the Alberta side and what they said was they’re going to open 250 stores the first year, which is just an estimate and after that, there could be 500 stores in Alberta, but there’s no limit to any one area.”
He is currently working on the groundwork for getting approval from the AGLC to open a separate marijuana dispensary from his current shop.