People wanting to sell retail cannabis and those who own their buildings should make sure they understand the ground rules and implications, lawyer Isabelle Cadotte warns.
"To me if you're a commercial landlord, you want to take a look at your restrictive covenant," she says. "The big thing is having a retail cannabis store co-located with other types of businesses that may kind of overlap."
She cites the example of co-locating a retail cannabis outlet with a drugstore.
"If you're saying that in this building there can only be one provider of pharmaceutical products, then there's a question about whether a cannabis retail store that provides medical and recreational marijuana could be co-located with a pharmacy. So you could have restrictions in that sense," she says.
She also urges people looking at getting into the retail cannabis business to check out the rules for where such businesses can be located.
The provincial government has said they must be a minimum of 100 metres away from health- care facilities and schools. However, municipalities can set stricter regulations if they wish and Olds council has been looking at doing so.
She says prospective cannabis retailers must also obtain a licence to do so from the AGLC (Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission).
"There's an extensive process that you have to go through. Security clearances; you have to make sure your security systems are in place and that you've got employees who are properly trained," Cadotte says.
She says AGLC is providing some training to staff who are going to be handling cannabis products.
