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By Tom Mark

Vernon Mayor Empathizes With Cannabis Shop

Jun 19, 2018 | 12:42 PM

Vernon Mayor Akbal Mund understands the concern of a local cannabis shop that’s had to stop sales because it couldn’t sign a covenant with the city.

MMJ Total Health couldn’t get its landlord to sign and held a peaceful protest yesterday outside city hall yesterday.

Mund says it’s unfortunate their landlord wouldn’t sign the covenant.

“Things happen and you know the city has worked with all the dispensaries to provide them with a temporary licence to operate. We have many that did comply and we’ve moved forward and issued the temporary licences for them to operate. I know it looks bad that we may not be working with everybody but we have to have some form of rules and regulations that we have to set forth so we can move forward.”

MMJ’s landlord offered to sell the building to the operators but they say the price was to high.

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They said the fear about signing the covenant arose out of concern that when the zoning regulations are drawn up, there’s no guarantee that having a covenant
would assure them a business licence.

Akbal Mund agrees there are some unknowns.

“When cannabis is legalized in the near future here then municipalities will sit back and go, okay, what kind of zoning do we want to put in where these businesses
can operate. And that’s a decision that will be made at that time and, you know, I can’t speak to something that’s in the future. I don’t know what the answer will be for that.”

Mund says it could be nothing is decided until after the next council comes in.

by Tom Mark

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