The president of The Chad Smoke Shop 420 chain didn’t linger in council chambers Monday after his presentation to city council.
Chad Wentworth and a small entourage quietly left the room after a rough reception from councillors that included hard questions, accusations and the distribution of an outstanding warrant for Wentworth’s arrest on a charge of trafficking in marijuana.
Mayor Nolan Crouse distributed copies of a 2009 sworn information from Hay River, N.W.T., detailing the trafficking charge as well as another for failing to appear in court as required. Wentworth acknowledged both charges were still outstanding.
“I’m not proud of what I did in the past but I am proud of what we do now,” Wentworth said.
After Wentworth left council chambers, Crouse asked administration to contact the RCMP. On Tuesday morning Const. Janice Schoepp said the detachment was aware of the warrant but did not take Wentworth into custody.
Schoepp said that because the warrant was only for the Northwest Territories, the warrant would need to be extended. Also, any other municipality outside the territory would only arrest someone with a similar warrant if the issuing detachment agreed to pay all costs to bring the person back.
“He would only be arrestable in the Northwest Territories unless they agreed to extend the warrant [beyond their boundaries],” Schoepp said.
Wentworth appeared before council on the same night it was scheduled to review a proposed strategy to make life difficult for stores such as The Chad, which sell items often linked to the consumption of illegal drugs.
Administration has proposed a multi-pronged approach within the limits of what municipalities can do under the Municipal Government Act. They propose bylaw amendments defining certain groups of paraphernalia as “restricted” and prohibiting one single business from selling items from more than three of the categories. They include:
• any product that displays a marijuana plant or leaf;
• any device intended to facilitate smoking activity;
• any type of grinder, electric or manual;
• any type of digital weigh scales;
• any type of detoxifying products.
Other recommendations include prohibiting the sale of restricted products to minors and requiring displays of restricted items to be obscured from the outside of the business. Administrations also says the Tobacco Retail Licensing Bylaw should be amended to “include certain smoking devices in its expanded definition of ‘Tobacco Products.’”
There are no recommendations on restricting advertising or land use because of potential court challenges. Advertising would fall under free speech, which a backgrounder states could be easily challenged, while using the land-use bylaw would mean having to demonstrate valid planning concerns beyond the repute in which the business’ nature is held.
Council unanimously voted in favour of administration bringing forward the required bylaw amendments.
“I think the bottom line in this whole matter is that St. Albert does not want businesses that sell materials associated with the illegal drug trade,” Coun. Malcolm Parker. “I think the community will support us.”
The Chad is the only shop of its kind in St. Albert after the subdivision and development appeal board revoked the development permit for Blitz 420 last week, a point Wentworth made to council when asked what value his business adds to the city.
“It keeps your people in the community instead of going to Edmonton. We’re the only smoke shop in St. Albert.”
Wentworth explained in his remarks that his company had controls in place that separated it from other smoke shops, such as denying access to anyone under the age of 16 who is not accompanied by a parent and frosting its windows.
“There are some operators that are not the most reputable. That same can be said about businesses in any industry. Please don’t paint us with the same brush to determine whether our business is legitimate or not.”
