Across Vancouver Friday night, cannabis retailer stores were removing wrapping from their windows.
Up until now, the opaque film was a requirement for their provincial license. The law made it clear no one was allowed to see cannabis products or sales transactions from the street.
Cannabis retailers expressed their safety concerns to the government about the window coverings.
“I understand legalizing cannabis was a big deal but our safety, our customer’s safety, shouldn’t be at risk,” said Matthew Greenwood with Up In Smoke.
Earlier this year, an attempted armed robbery at Kingsway Cannabis was caught on security camera.
No one was hurt and the would-be robber was left empty-handed but it highlighted a safety concern as the opaque windows isolated staff from potential witnesses and people that could call for help.
That law was amended on Friday in the name of safety.
“I got an email that was better than Christmas. It will be no different than the insurance place or Latin food market next door,” said Charles Varbioff with Kingsway Cannabis.
The Retail Council of Cannabis Retailers of BC said the botched robbery was a catalyst for the government to take action.
The organization is relieved its member’s concerns were listened to from both a safety standpoint and the stigma the window screens created for shop owners.
They argued their products are no different than what is sold in a liquor store.
“We have been asking for these (changes) for about a year and a half,” said Jaclymm Pehota, a Retail Council of Cannabis Retailers of BC spokesperson.
“It was seriously brought into conversation in April and we’ve seen this change happen in the middle of May, that is an incredible turnaround time.”
The law still prohibits window displays of cannabis products, and retailers aren’t quite sure what that means or how close internal displays can be to the windows, but most are confident the details can be worked out with inspectors.
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