Realtors will tell you the three most important factors are location, location, location.

The same applies to B.C.’s budding marijuana dispensary business: All locations are definitely not created equal.

In Sechelt, the local RCMP detachment is threatening to shut down a marijuana dispensary that has yet to even open.

A couple of hours away, five dozen pot dispensaries in Vancouver operate openly with little chance an overworked police force will drop in for a visit.

Two communities, two very different approaches.

Const. Harrison Mohr of Sunshine Coast RCMP says a soon-to-open Weeds Glass and Gifts outlet will be shut down if it tries to open in Sechelt.

“They applied for a business licence but were turned down,” said Mohr.

“If they do open as a business they would be in violation of local bylaws.”

Mohr said that would be the case whether the company was selling merely pipes and paraphernalia or in fact selling marijuana.

In addition, said Mohr, Weeds would be subject to shutdown if it tried to sell storefront pot.

“There is no provision in Canadian law for a marijuana dispensary,” said Mohr. “To my knowledge, they plan to open before the end of February.”

Weeds manager Robin Kehler told The Province his would-be outlet is being singled out.

“They’re biased,” said Kehler. “There are lots of dispensaries in towns that have the RCMP.

“They need to get together and decide what they’re going to do about this federally and provincially.

“This matter is before the courts.”

Vancouver police Const. Brian Montague said complaints about dispensaries are investigated, but the department’s focus is violent crime.

“We are concerned about the violence associated with the drug trade, or violent drug traffickers who prey on drug addicts,” Montague told The Province.

“Our concern, from a police perspective, is and always will be public safety.”

Montague said Vancouver police have raided about half a dozen dispensaries in the past year, and recommended charges be laid. To his knowledge, Montague said, charges have yet to be laid in any of the investigations.

Montague, a Vancouver native, said attitudes and reality are both on the move — as Washington state now allows adults to openly purchase and possess up to one ounce of recreational pot.

“Attitudes have changed, tolerance has changed, laws have changed,” said Montague. “All you have to do is go south of the border to see how laws have changed.”

Jamie Shaw, president of the Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries, said big cities like Vancouver with a long history of dispensaries have little problem with the pot shops, but new locations tend to get people concerned.

“Places like Toronto, Victoria, Nanaimo, have had them for a long time, for decades,” said Shaw. “People are knowledgeable and experienced.”

Shaw believes the laws change through lobbying behind the scenes, hardly the approach taken by the Weeds outlet in Sechelt — on the main drag, with a neon sign featuring a bright green pot logo.

(In Vancouver, which is home to 61 dispensaries, many are very discreet with little advertising or signs.)

“It’s a strategic location for us,” Kehler said of the Wharf Street location, right on the highway in and out of town.

As for Shaw, “I don’t think we’ll see any CAMCD members with neon signs.”

Kehler, who’s in the eye of an ever-moving storm, concedes he has no business licence, but said no jurisdiction in Canada wants to legalize a store that sells an illegal substance.

In the short-term, Kehler has a way around the problem.

Until the end of the month, he said, the dispensary will open for “membership drives.”

“There won’t be any ‘product’ there,” Kehler said, meaning marijuana for sale.

While the RCMP see an illegal business, Kehler sees the police trying to intrude on people’s rights.

“People have a right to choose their own medicine,” said Kehler, who promises to only sell “product” to those with a doctor’s prescription. “We know this medicine works.”

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Article source The Province