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Canada: Pot Head Miffed At City
David Carrigg Vancouver Courier (CN BC)
Tuesday 21 Aug 2001 Marc Emery, president of the B.C. Marijuana Party, is smoking mad over the city's ongoing delay in giving the party a business licence to operate its already functioning downtown headquarters. Emery says city staff have had the business licence application for four months, but refuse to act on it because Emery had his licence for Hemp B.C. revoked in 1998 and they simply don't like him. The city also banned Emery from the downtown core that year, after he was fined $200 for giving a piece of hash to a U.S. tourist. "Paul Teichroeb [the city's chief licence inspector] is the man. That's who rejected our licence in 1998 and that's who's behind all the delays," said Emery, at the party's headquarters, bookstore and Pot-TV studio at 307 West Hastings. "They told me they would never give me a business licence and every single business on this block had to say they had nothing to do with me." There are two licensed businesses alongside the party headquarters that sell marijuana-smoking paraphernalia. Emery, who founded Cannabis Culture magazine and the internationally renowned but now defunct Hemp B.C. store, said the city has no grounds for denying the business application for the B.C. Marijuana Party Bookstore because it's in the name of a political party and nothing illegal is going on in the two floors the operation occupies. The party headquarters is contained downstairs, while the ground floor sells glass bongs and pipes, marijuana-related literature and hemp clothes. At the back of the ground floor is the small studio of Pot-TV, which is broadcast over the Internet. The party, which moved into the building in March, can sell goods from the site because it has an occupancy permit. But without a business permit it can't install burglar alarms or erect a $5,000 neon sign already made and sitting in a local warehouse. "The city hasn't found a reason not to give us a business licence yet; they are simply stalling," said Emery, adding the party's lawyer has visited city hall several times to try and resolve the situation. "We have an occupancy permit-that's indefinite until they reject your business licence and they have no reason to do that because everything complies with the law." Emery admits the old Hemp B.C. store, which was raided by police a dozen times, sold marijuana seeds and tolerated people smoking marijuana on the premises. Chris Bennett, who produces Pot-TV, said police have only visited the site once since it opened in March. "That was just before the August 7 Grasstown Smoke-in and Street Jamboree. They were looking to ask that we don't block traffic. That guy was polite enough." Despite the visit, the jamboree closed down several blocks of West Hastings during peak-hour traffic. Rosemary Hagiwara, deputy chief licence inspector, said it normally takes between a few days and three weeks to process a commercial business licence application. "The application must meet zoning and building requirements and in some cases have police clearance." Hagiwara confirmed the B.C. Marijuana Party's application was filed April 11, adding the application is being dealt with by Teichroeb, who is currently on holiday.
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