The City of Victoria’s rapid proliferation of unlicensed marijuana dispensaries has become more than a mere regulatory hurdle, according to a City of Victoria resident who recently discovered that a neighbourly pot shop could void his home insurance. 

 

“It was so frustrating sitting there having the broker say we might not be able to do this,” said a Victoria condominium owner who contacted Citified Media following an arduous experience at the hands of an insurance broker.

 

The resident, who requested anonymity and whom we’ll refer to as John Smith, was shocked to learn that the recent opening of an unlicensed marijuana dispensary in a retail space along the ground floor of his condominium building could have denied him his home insurance, and still might, due to increased risk.

 

“It was rather embarrassing to have to essentially plead to the insurance broker that they should insure me when she said they might not be able to,” Smith said, adding that a stipulation of the insurance he eventually received was to alert the brokerage immediately should the unlicensed dispensary alter its product line-up to include baked-on-site marijuana edibles.

 

“I've been told by [my broker] to let them know if [the dispensary's business practices change], because they would need to re-evaluate my insurance at that point. So I'm now living with the dark cloud over my head that my home insurance could be pulled at any moment because, ultimately, the City chooses not to regulate these businesses.”

 

In a letter Smith penned to City of Victoria councillors outlining his experience at the hands of his insurance broker, he states that having to wait nearly two weeks for home insurance, the City placed him in a “high risk situation,” and openly asked council “why would the City put its taxpayers through this?”

 

In an article published on February 7th, Citified outlined how fewer than half of the City of Victoria’s some-40 marijuana dispensaries have applied for a formal rezoning as part of a new regulatory regime introduced last fall, despite the City requiring all operators to seek municipal approvals and stressing its commitment to enforcing its new requirements. To-date the City of Victoria has not approved a single dispensary, while newly-opened dispensaries have yet to be forced to seek a rezoning and secure municipal approvals prior to selling marijuana.

 

Last month the City of Langford moved to shut down a marijuana dispensary that opened on Granderson Road near the West Shore detachment of the RCMP. Mayor Stew Young has vowed to keep dispensaries out of his municipality until the federal government officially sanctions their right to operate. On February 12th the Granderson Road dispensary re-opened, forcing Mayor Young to once again publicly announce that his municipality would not tolerate the illegal sale of marijuana. It remains unclear whether the dispensary is currently open for business.

 

Despite his overall support of the retail marijuana trade, Smith feels the City of Victoria has neglected to take the best interests of its citizens in mind through its laissez-faire attitude towards dispensaries, and could now be complicit in a regulatory hurdle of another kind.

 

“The reality is that I am pro-legalization and don't have a problem with dispensaries in general,” Smith says. “My issue is with the complete lack of regulation which has led to them popping up like wildfire and subsequently causing problems like the one I faced.” C