BC cannabis store fined over ‘self-serve’ bong, pipe displays

Three strikes were up for a BC cannabis store caught putting its bongs and pipes on a self-serve display.

After a pair of warnings and a failed effort to poke holes in the logic of the regulation, the Tofino store was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.

Last December, BC Liquor and Cannabis inspectors stopped by Daylight Cannabis Company for the third time since 2022. They found pipes, bongs and rolling papers on open shelves where customers could pick them out on their own.

That landed the store in hot water because, under federal regulations, self-serve shelving is explicitly prohibited. According to a recent decision by the BC liquor cannabis regulator, it’s a rule designed to protect children from cannabis advertising.

At a liquor and cannabis branch hearing, the store questioned the logic of that rule.

“This is about papers, lighters, and glassware, items found in gas stations or convenience stores all over Tofino and British Columbia, yet cannabis stores are the only industry being penalized for it, despite having security measures in place to keep minors from accessing or seeing them,” the store said in its defence.

It added that a wall blocks the entrance to the store, so no one at the store’s entrance could see the merchandise on display. Their identification is then checked before going further inside, according to the decision.

Regardless of the store’s defence, it still broke the rules, according to the decision.

A store’s commitment to “ensuring public safety does not relieve a licensee of complying” with cannabis regulations, the regulator found.