Rally To Save Pot Shop

“I’m still open,” says Russ Stevenson of Herb’s Healing Centre in the Alpine Centre who has been fined $1,000 by the City of Vernon’s bylaw department and ordered to close his doors.

He says the latest order was made Thursday afternoon when law enforcement officials entered the premises and told him to close the business.

However Stevenson opened again Friday and was still operating when he spoke to Beach Radio News at 4 p.m.

Now he is fighting back with plans for the large rally at his shop today at 1 p.m.

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He is hoping hundreds of supporters show up to the event, including a patient from Hospice House and another who is currently in Vernon Jubilee Hospital.

“We have a whole pile of letters (in support of the centre) we’re going to put up on the walls,” he says.

Stevenson is angry with city officials and with Mayor Victor Cumming who, he says, has not returned any of his calls on the matter.

Calls from clients to the mayor have not be returned either, he says.

Mayor Victor Cumming confirms there has been “a lot of contact” at city hall with people who support Stevenson.

However, the mayor points out a local business license cannot be issued to a cannabis retailer unless a provincial license is issued first.

Stevenson says his shop is serving up to 100 people per day.