Saskatoon cannabis dispensaries visited by city investigator

The owner of a medical cannabis dispensary is waiting for the other shoe to drop after he was paid an unexpected visit by an investigator with the City of Saskatoon.

Chris Jordan, part-owner of the Best Buds dispensary in Saskatoon, said the investigator stopped by just before Christmas, asked a few questions and took photos before leaving.

“I assumed it was an investigation of some sort. After I called her boss, he let me know that that’s her role, as an investigator with the City of Saskatoon ,” Jordan said.

He said he hasn’t heard anything from the city since, which makes him wonder what might come next.

“I hope they would just be doing their due diligence, checking out the shops that are open. Obviously there are going to be some shops that are popping up that wouldn’t be desirable for the city of Saskatoon. And I understand that,” Jordan said.

“I figured they were just doing their due diligence to find out who the good ones are and the bad ones are.”

He said he hopes it’s not another situation like the one that arose in 2015, when the Saskatchewan Compassion Club dispensary was forced to close its doors.

Four people were arrested after the club was raided, but all charges were eventually dropped and the case was resolved with the compassion club fined $6500.

“That basically was a complete waste of resources for the City of Saskatoon and they wasted nothing but taxpayers money,” Jordan said.

Canna-World and Weeds Glass and Gifts also confirmed they had similar visits from a city investigator, who took photos before leaving with little explanation for the visit.

The city would not offer comment on the nature of the visit to Best Buds.