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Parksville pot shop shut down, another opens

City of Parksville granted an injunction to shut down WeeMedical Wellness Center
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The Natural Green Remedies Corporation has opened a medicinal cannabis shop in the former WeeMedical Wellness Center location on Hirst Avenue in downtown Parksville. WeeMedical was shut down after the City of Parksville obtained an injunction to close down the business. — Lauren Collins photo

The City of Parksville has made it clear that cannabis dispensaries are not welome in the city. But that hasn’t stopped businesses from moving in.

Debbie Comis, the City of Parksville CAO, said this week the city recently obtained an injunction from the courts to shut down WeeMedical Wellness Center, which had been operating illegally since February.

RELATED: Parksville pot shop gets shut down

Comis said the city was granted the injunction on Sunday, Aug. 13.

However, a few days after the injunction, a new business opened up in the same location — The Natural Green Remedies Corporation.

“So now we have to start over again in dealing with them,” Comis told The NEWS.

After opening in a Hirst Avenue storefront in February, WeeMedical Wellness Centre was raided by RCMP and closed down by order of the city’s bylaw officer on March 15. A week later the business reopened its doors in the same location, and was raided and closed again on April 11.

It was unclear exactly when the business resumed operation for the third — and presumably last — time.

May Joan Liu, director with the WeeMedical Wellness Society, said the Parksville location has shut down permanently.

“It seems that the city has chosen to direct its council members and local RCMP to stake out the premises before and even after the shut down,” Liu said.

Comis said getting the injuction was council’s idea “because the selling of marijuana is illegal in a dispensary in Canada, so right now the only way to legally obtain medical marijuana is by having a doctor’s prescription and using one of the licenced marijuana facilities in the province and dispensaries are not legal licenced distribution.”

According to neighbouring businesses, The Natural Green Remedies Corporation was operating as of Tuesday (Aug. 22), but by Thursday the business appeared to have been shut down.

Comis said she knows the Town of Qualicum Beach is dealing with a similar situation, but are handling it different.

The town is putting out a notification to let people know of a proposed marijuana dispensary in the commercial core. If approved, the business would get a temporary-use licence.

“We’re kind of both monitoring each other,” Comis said.



Lauren Collins

About the Author: Lauren Collins

I'm a provincial reporter for Black Press Media's national team, after my journalism career took me across B.C. since I was 19 years old.
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