HOLY SMOKE WINS BUSINESS LICENCE VICTORY - MAYBE

Holy Smoke Culture Shop won a small victory at city council Monday, but the
result may never be realized. During the debate over the new licence
structure, Councillor Judy Gayton made a motion to have the small Herridge
Lane shop's fee brought more in line with relailers its size. In 1998, the
city slapped a $1,000 fee on retailers that sold water pipes, hooka pipes or
bong pipes - a classification which only applied to Holy Smoke. The owners
of Holy Smoke did not pay and the matter is currently before the courts with
the shop claiming discrimination. "We don't need to pull any punches here,"
said Gayton."There are many people who very strenuously object to illicit
drugs or cannabis and if people feel that's what's going on at Holy Smoke,
then that's a criminal issue, it hasn't got anything to do with the cost of
doing business in our community. "A business licence is not a methodology to
impose restrictions. Either, it's a legal business or it ain't." The
justification the city used for charging Holy Smoke $870 more than other
small retailers was that the location required more police attention.
Currently, the owners of Holy Smoke are facing several drug related charges
stemming from a raid of the store in October 1997, where police allegedly
found small amounts of illegal drugs on the premises. "We have a court case
in process, there is prosecution that may take place regarding alleged
illegal activities at the Holy Smoke business," said Gayton. "I'm not going
to judge whether or not those allegations are true, that's for the courts.

But, it's not an issue that we should in any way be dealing with through the
vehicle of a business licence. "Are we going to say "sure you can run a
prostitution ring as long as you pay a high enough business licence so we
can inspect the business frequently or take you to court." It's insane, it's
not the way to deal with illegal activities, illegal activities should
simply be stopped if they are happening.

You don't penalize people by charging them a higher licence fee to do
something." Though the motion to have the Holy Smoke fee dropped to $130 was
passed by the majority of council, because the actual by-law amendment for
business licence fees did not pass, city staff said the fee of $1,000 is
still in place.