With cannabis home delivery available in B.C. for more than a week now, Surrey city council’s decision to not allow retail stores has essentially become moot.
“I think it’s absolutely a problem. This has changed everything – that it can have delivery,” said Councillor Brenda Locke, now a mayoral candidate for her Surrey Connect slate. “The people want to have access to cannabis. There’s no doubt about it and people are going … to Semiahmoo and they’re going to New West now.”
Surrey residents can now order their cannabis products and have same-day delivery – which can be delivered by motor vehicle, bike or on foot as long as it’s stored securely – of a product that is then transported through the city to a residence.
Safe Surrey Coalition, the majority on city council, has yet to approve a cannabis store in the city despite the federal government legalizing non-medical cannabis on Oct. 17, 2018.
“I think, absolutely, council is going to have to look at this,” Locke said.
“It’s a legal product in the province of British Columbia and the country of Canada and we can keep our head in the sand, but it’s a legal product and we should be able to purchase it if Surrey residents choose to.”
Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum did not return multiple requests for comment at the time of publication.
The provincial government announced June 17 that it would be allowing cannabis retailers to deliver non-medical cannabis products directly to consumers starting July 15.
That followed B.C.’s announcement in August of 2020 that allowed cannabis retail stores to sell their products online.
Vikram Sachdeva was on his way to deliver a same-day order to Surrey from Chilliwack when he talked to the Now-Leader.
“We want to cover the Lower Mainland from Delta to Chilliwack for now and then expand our delivery service to pretty all of the (Greater Vancouver area) and serve the communities that don’t have a store right now,” said Sachdeva, founder and CEO of Seed and Stone.
“That’s why we took the risk right now to start from Chilliwack, so that the customers understand that we will go leaps beyond to get the right product into the right hands.”
While Sachdeva is unable to open a physical store in the city, the company’s head office is located in South Surrey, with plans to open a store in White Rock along Marine Drive. They were also just licensed in Delta to open a location on Annacis Island.
Sachdeva said he would love to be able to open a store in Surrey and serve the community.
“The office is here. We still want to contribute to the economy of Surrey and B.C,” he said.
“You wait patiently. This is one thing we’ve learned to do in this industry, is be patient and keep on trying. Delta was also a no before and we kept on trying and we put it in an area where we thought was in the best interest of the community and we are trying to look for locations like that in Surrey as well.”
Meantime, people can visit Seed and Stone online at seedandstone.com or call 1-888-575-7333 to place an order.
As for contributing to the economy, Sachdeva said response from the Chilliwack community was “incredible.”
“Leaving aside the tax dollars, people that were coming in from Abbotsford when they didn’t have any stores, from Hope, from Mission, from all over. They’re bringing that economic benefit as well.”
lauren.collins@surreynowleader.com
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