First pot shop approved

Photo: Pixabay

Vernon will be getting the first provincially approved cannabis store in the Okanagan.

Spiritleaf has been given approval to open a pot shop in Anderson Subdivision.

There is no timeline as to when the store will open, with the Spiritleaf website simply stating 'Coming soon.'

Spiritleaf also states a store will be opening in Kelowna in the future.

The Vernon store will open at 102-2500 53 Ave., eight months after the federal government legalized the once-demonized plant.

The store will likely be the first of several after Vernon city council approved more than 10 applications for pot shops.

The applications are then sent to the province for a license to sell cannabis, and not all of the applications will necessarily get a license.

Salmon Arm already has two marijuana stores and Kamloops had the first legal store in the province, with a provincially operated BC Cannabis Store opening the day legalization took effect.

A license for a second private store has also been approved for Kamloops.

A foursome of cannabis stores have opened on the Okanagan Indian Band in what has been dubbed The Green Mile, but none has been given an official provincial license.

High Mountain Cannabis Inc. has also recently been given a provincial license to open a store in Sicamous, adding to the growing number of Shuswap pot shops.