Despite Alberta opening up applications for cannabis distribution licenses, local smoke-shop owner Ian McCoy says that the ball is still in the city’s court.
The province unveiled the license application form Tuesday, and requires interested distributors in the province to fill it out and collect the relevant information about their business. There is not a set amount of licenses that the Alberta government will hand out, and no deadline to get the files in.
McCoy, who owns 20 after 4 says he is waiting on the City of Lloydminster to plan their strategy before he applies.
“As far as the city of Lloyd goes, i’m not really sure because they haven’t said anything at all, but I can see them putting other stipulations in other than what’s coming from the [Alberta Liquor and Gaming Commission.]”
The City of Lloydminster is waiting on the Saskatchewan Government to release their mandate and McCoy says that because we are a two province city, the market will go where the rules are most effective for business.
“Saskatchewan already said that the will be only giving two [licenses] in Lloydminster, so their isn’t a lot of room there anyway. If the Alberta side opens up, yes there will be more people coming to the Alberta side, unless the City of Lloyd puts something on there to limit the amount of shops on the Alberta side.”
The price of the application is $400 per building with another $3,000 towards background checks and other requirements. A full list of guidelines can be found here.