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Legal pot retailer targets unsanctioned, Indigenous-run London shop

An area cannabis retailer has complained to the City of London about an unsanctioned Indigenous-run 24-hour pot shop running out of a trailer.

From London Free Press by Dale Carruthers December 13 2022

Spirit River Cannabis recently opened in a gravel lot at 72 Wellington Rd., just north of Grand Avenue, without obtaining a licence from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), the province’s pot regulator.

Owner Maurice French is exercising his treaty rights to open a “medicinal cannabis trading post” on traditional Chippewa Nation land, according to a letter sent to the city and police officials.

But Marie Ross, owner of two Bob’s Bud Emporium stores in St. Thomas, said allowing a cannabis retailer to operate in defiance of the law isn’t fair to those who follow the rules and could put customers at risk.

Spirit River Cannabis “could have gone through the same process we all did and they chose not to,” she said. “They need to follow the same rules as the rest of us.”

Spirit River Cannabis at 72 Wellington Rd. in London has opened without properly licensing, a competitor complains. (Derek Ruttan/The London Free Press)
Spirit River Cannabis at 72 Wellington Rd. in London has opened without properly licensing, a competitor complains. (Derek Ruttan/The London Free Press)

The more than 1,500 cannabis retailers in Ontario – nearly 50 of them in London – are allowed to open between 9 a.m. and 11 p.m. and must sell products from the Ontario Cannabis Store, the government-run marijuana wholesaler and online delivery service.

Ross raised the issue of the Wellington Road dispensary in an email to Mayor Josh Morgan and Ward 13 Coun. David Ferreira, saying it sets a bad example for the city and asking whether city officials gave the business a building permit.

An emailed response from the mayor’s office says the AGCO is responsible for approving cannabis retail stores. “As such, this falls outside the municipality’s jurisdiction,” it said.

Ross, who shared the correspondence with The Free Press, expressed shock at the “ignorant” reply: “Before your office sends out something on your behalf, maybe they better to do their own research.”

A video posted on YouTube last month shows French and Del Riley, a hereditary Crane Clan chief of the Chippewa Nation, delivering letters about Spirit River Cannabis to city hall and the police station.

“We delivered our letter recognizing our rights, our agreements that we’re allowed to be here as a First Nations, Chippewas, on our territories,” French, 51, says in the two-minute video.

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