First Cannabis Store opens in Cobourg

In January 2019, Cobourg Council decided to allow Cannabis stores in the Town and now the first one has opened at 38 King Street West.  The three owners already have a store in Kingston and they plan one in Campbellford. There are three others waiting to be approved – two downtown and one on Strathy Road.  If there are any others, they have not officially applied for a licence.  See the list below. Two of the other store applicants also have multiple stores and web sites.  Given the approx. eight existing stores in Roseneath, it’s not clear if there will be enough business for all stores to operate or even if the other applicants will actually open.  But Mary J’s has now had their grand opening.

Mary J's Opening
Mary J’s Opening

They have actually been open one week but the official grand opening saw welcomes from MP Philip Lawrence, MPP David Piccini and Mayor John Henderson. (MPP Piccini was a little late arriving so MP Lawrence spoke on his behalf!)  Councillor Adam Bureau also welcomed them on behalf of the DBIA.  A number of other Councillors were also present.

The official licensing agency of the Ontario Government is the Alcohol and Gaming commission of Ontario (AGCO).  As the name suggests, they are responsible for regulating and licensing liquor licences and gambling – and now Cannabis.  They started taking applications for a licence to open a shop in Cobourg some time ago.  For each application there was a 15 day window when citizens or the Town could object but for most local applications, that window has passed.  AGCO have a map on their web site showing all applicants and their locations.  See links below.

AGCO Statement

Written submissions about an application can only be made to the Registrar during the 15-day public notice period by a resident of the municipality in which the proposed store is located, or the municipality representing the area in which the proposed store is located.

Note that the Town cannot prohibit stores – they have to go through AGCO.

Cobourg Stores

Applications approved:

  • Mary J’s 38 King St. W – co-owners Dashy Singh, Jass Dhaliwal and Harman Litt also have a store in Kingston and are planning others

Applications being processed

  • Distilled Cannabis Co 8 Strathy Rd. Unit 3
  • Your Local Cannabis 2 King St. E (Northeast corner of Division Street) – Has other stores
  • The Peace Pipe  1 King St. E. Unit 1A – Has other stores

All Public notice dates for above have passed.

There are two more in Port Hope

  • Kryptonite Cannabis 107 Peter St Unit F – public notice dates not yet posted
  • Stash & Co 141 Toronto Rd  Suite 121 – public notice dates have passed – has other stores.

Plus as many as 8 locations in Roseneath on County Rd 45.

Links

Previous relevant blog posts.

External Links

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Cobourg taxpayer
3 years ago

Four marijuana stores in “the feel good town” how fitting. Things have certainly changed in the nearly 2 decades I have lived here. Oh and a rehab clinic. If this was the case then, I doubt I would have moved here.

Jojo
Reply to  Cobourg taxpayer
3 years ago

Cobourg taxpayer I agree with you. Council is giving in to the lowest denominator and seek voters who will be too”high”to vote for them in the next future. This excitable issue is hiding an open and transparent budget, an infrastructure full of flaws, and planning issues that are not going to be familiar to anyone, as they are cutting down an ecosystem in town. Each term has the same strategy. This patriarchal town has turned away from the Lake our prepaid boardwalk benches in honour of our deads WITHOUT CONSULTING WITH US and be questioned on their rationale behind that costly change that was done in catimani. It was disrespectful (😪 RIP equally for the dead and alive ✝️) nobody wants our approval. A lot of retired homeowners (women) held interesting careers with more education than our town staff and council could anticipate. Others had simple but very hard jobs and all of them were very devoted people and put all their heart to their loving families. YES we, the people, have the wright to be consulted.

Last edited 3 years ago by Jojo
Wally Keeler
3 years ago

Comment self-deleted.

Last edited 3 years ago by Wally Keeler
Sandpiper
3 years ago

The Mayor , Planning & Business development will probably come out a new Spin on Cannabis
especially those with eatables and suggest that they are entitled to sidewalk Patios Next
just like having a Rehab next or in close proximity to your home or business won’t have any effect on the neighbours Well what about property values ?? Time will tell

Jojo
Reply to  Sandpiper
3 years ago

There is no justice for honest people who work hard to keep their properties. King street starts to smell like an old alley with fumes and thick white vapors. The fresh wind from the lake and the occasional garlic smells are part of the past. Yesterday people were leaning on brick walls smoking heavily while watching walkers , helping the trash looking more obvious on the curbside. Hard to believe that our heraldic flower is a white rose ! Cobourg will always be a bitter village, not a semi rural town. Male teachers were the people who made it the most to the mayorship, ( one medical doctor in the past) but nobody can run it like a fine tuned in corporation. As I mentioned we live in obscurantism and absolutism, a recipe to keep you, without proper newspapers, misinformed and at the level of a proletarian. A feel good town for people who can’t feel anything, until they reach the fire of the furnace crematorium in Bowmanville.

Last edited 3 years ago by Jojo
Wally Keeler
3 years ago

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO ABOUT POT, Cobourg Sentinel-Star, January 4, 1968

The Sentinel-Star asked the question: “What should society do about pot?”

Mrs Cooke, Division Street stated, “I wouldn’t know what to do. It is a terrible thing and something should be done.”

Mrs Beardsley, D’Arcy Street: “I don’t know the answer. It is terrible and the young people will be sorry for the harm they do to themselves and to others. I don’t know what the answer is.”

Mrs Davis,  Spencer Street West, “It should be illegal and abolished.”

Mr Gallagher, Swayne Street: “By publishing stories on it, people become aware of it. It should definitely be abolished.”

Mrs J. Downs, William: “We should stop it by all means. It’s terrible, but what can we do about it? It has a good start here in our own little town and in the schools. I don’t know what should be done but I would like to do lots.”

Mr B Young, Ruth Street: “It’s very bad. It has been abolished by law.”

Mrs  Usher, Albert Street: “I don’t know what the answer is but I’m just disgusted with it. It is dreadful when people are sick and dying and then someone who doesn’t need it deliberately takes it. It is a dreadful sin but how can we control it. I wish I had a thought on that.”

“Smart young people should have better brains. I don’t understand what prompts it. I don’t think they have enough to do. They are bored to death. If they would get interested in outdoor sports they would be different people.”

“When we were young we had to work harder for less but we were no worse off. Our money bought three times more then, than it does now.”

“Times have changed . . . “

Mrs Gordon, Hayden Crescent: “We are definitely against it, however, we haven’t really given it much thought as our children are younger. I believe the control of the child and the love and understanding in the home has a great bearing on the matter. It is for escape or to be one of the crowd. It is definitely bad.”

J. J. Burns, James Street West: “There’s not a lot people can do about it. It is all done on the quiet. There should be some plain clothes detectives around to investigate.”

Mrs  Moon, James Street East: I am against anything that will downgrade the young people. It is destructive but can we avoid it? Some authorities know more about it and should do something.”

Gerinator
Reply to  Wally Keeler
3 years ago

To J.J. Burns of James Street – “It is all done on the quiet”. Not so – this council gave away our Towns Development and Planning rights specific, re Cannabis, to what/which/where cannabis businesses set up. They accepted a Trojan Horse offer by Province of 10K$ incentive if they’d agree to allowing Cannabis shops to setup in Cobourg. This offer was accepted, by this Council, in the belief that a mega Cannabis operation was going to set up in Cobourg, including big plans to set up a medicinal retail outlet. Guess what – big plans, big bust AND this Town can’t rescind their agreement with the Province. As John indicates above there are 4 outlets in the works. As far as I know there could be 44 outlets allowed overtime; especially over the summer with the beach and all. So here we are. Cobourg will have to set up enforcement plans (with teeth) to manage the probable early onset of offenses (particularly on the beach), until the awareness-process kicks in.

Frenchy
Reply to  Gerinator
3 years ago
JimT
Reply to  Frenchy
3 years ago

Goodness! Pictures in the comments section! Who knew?

Still trading on the CSE: 
HUGE-Q Fsd Pharma Inc Cl B 2.26 +0.04 +1.80%

Last edited 3 years ago by JimT
Sandpiper
Reply to  Frenchy
3 years ago

It would have been a nice thing if these fellows were part of the Cobourg Solution
but as it Turns out they are all part of the Problem s
If This was the USA an Impeachment might be called for

Jojo
Reply to  Frenchy
3 years ago

PLAN : A plan to petition on line ?perhaps.. We learn informally they could have negotiated provisions, one of them was for a manufacturing plan /only / and, conditional to no more than one store downtown and protect our valuable properties. • I didn’t realize I talked to one of the main businessmen while waiting for my Toronto train. He used to be an administrator for Shopper’s Drug Mart. He was very smooth.• This town is blinded by money they don’t have and worse they are blind on how to protect our financial house or respect our market value. It is operated by ordinary people proud of their buddies, unaware of the making of good contracts and how to consult expertise we put at their disposition, with our tax money, when the time comes. They are not questioned by any law student with an electronic newspaper summer job… Oh, by the way, they are wearing a baseball hat on the above picture ! strike 3 and the double dippers are gone, ⚾️ plan B. People who are not property owners and heavy pot smokers do not care for others in general.

Last edited 3 years ago by Jojo
Wally Keeler
Reply to  Gerinator
3 years ago

Cobourg will have to set up enforcement plans (with teeth) to manage the probable early onset of offenses (particularly on the beach), until the awareness-process kicks in.”

When the 401 reached Cobourg, it was time when Cobourg youth went to Yorkville to network weed. Reefers and Cobourg were often in the news, local, regional and national. That’s when Cobourg fretted mightily about what to do. Narcs were keeping an eye on the park and beach. That was likely the real “early onset of offences.

During those years I was court reporter for the Cobourg Sentinel Star. There were so many charges laid that a special court day of the week was set aside for months to deal with all the possession charges. Those were the days when flaw enforcement had teeth.

The years pass and Toronto opens up pot shops. All those GTA tourists flocking to Cobourg beach and their was no attendant “onset of offences“.

Then multiple pot shops open north of town in recent years, and, again, their were no “onset of offences”.

Cobourg residents who desire the pleasure of pot easily drive north of the 401. A pot shop in Cobourg will have no measurable effect on a non-existent “early onset of offenses“.

The Gummi Bears made me do it occifer.

Gerinator
Reply to  Wally Keeler
3 years ago

Thanks Wally for pointing out that I wasn’t sufficiently explicit. By offenses I meant smoking, not gummies and or other edibles. Yes I know that there are already laws on the books re smoking in public places, the big BUT is the aspect of smoking for medicinal purposes. Add to that the fervor folks have about weed (when smoked) being harmless. I for one don’t want to be walking through clouds of pot smoke whether on King or on the beach.

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Gerinator
3 years ago

 A pot shop in Cobourg will have no measurable effect on a non-existent “early onset of offenses“.

Your fantasy of “walking through clouds of pot smoke” is ludicrous scare-mongering.

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Gerinator
3 years ago

 big BUT is the aspect of smoking for medicinal purposes.

Balderdash! No proof whatsoever that it leads to “onset offences”. Totally groundless scare-mongering.

Conor
Reply to  Wally Keeler
3 years ago

Wally do you remember Brian McAuliffe?

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Conor
3 years ago

I’m not sure. I feel like I know the name but nothing comes to mind. Musta been that Manhattan Silver I inhaled back in some day.

Liz
3 years ago

Society has changed considerably in a mere life span:

  • Average family used to be able to buy a house with one bread winner
  • Families went to church on Sunday – now they are almost deserted
  • Young Offenders Act didn’t exist – there was no need for it
  • Spankings have become outlawed – spankings, not beatings!
  • No need to have police in schools
  • Mostly drinks were consumed on the weekend usually in moderation or only on holidays
  • Families could afford nice vacations in family oriented Muskoka lodges
  • Cars were not equivalent to a mortgage
  • People married and committed much more
  • Welcome to the new era
Last edited 3 years ago by Liz
Wally Keeler
Reply to  Liz
3 years ago

And all that explained in this brilliant movie: https://youtu.be/dSDm62Hmbf4

Liz
Reply to  Wally Keeler
3 years ago

Make fun if you like Wally – but it sure was better than it is today. All the points I wrote about are happening today. I feel sorry for people with no memory of life as it used to be. My friend’s son was mugged by 3 youths at 7 p.m. in a decent neighbourhood – punched in the mouth, his cell phone and wallet taken. Where I was living in recent years prostitutes were using the back lit parking lot – there were shootings and drug deals on the street were common. In past years King Clancy lived in those very apartments and it sure wasn’t like that then. But then perhaps from the remarks people prefer police in the schools, one parent families and idolize Bob Dylan’s “Everybody must get stoned.”

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Liz
3 years ago

I feel sorry for people with no memory of life as it used to be.” 
 
In 2015, the percentage of people in the world living in extreme poverty was 9.98%
In 1950, when “life as it used to be,” the percentage of people in the world living in extreme poverty was 63.32%
 
That is quite an improvement in a single lifespan.
 
In 2017, children dying before age 5 was 3.91%
In 1960, when “life as it used to be,” children dying before age 5 was 18.5%
 
Again
In 1930 world literacy was 32.53%
In 2016 world literacy was 86.25%
 
Since 1900 the global average life expectancy has more than doubled and is now above 70 years.
 
Life is improving daily all over the world, and hardly anyone notices.

Liz
Reply to  Wally Keeler
3 years ago

Wally the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and the world was saved. So what has that got or your blurb on conditions of prior years. Kids walked to school, did not have police to keep them from getting stabbed/shot, parents kept tabs on their kids, there were dances at the school where kids mingled – no more. Teenagers went out and did not fear being punched in the mouth and set on by other youths – spoke to more than one mother whose son had that experience. 5 votes up? Must be your group of friends on here that vote you up no matter what you write.

Last edited 3 years ago by Liz
Wally Keeler
Reply to  Liz
3 years ago

“Kids walked to school, did not have police to keep them from getting stabbed/shot,”
 
Such things happened throughout social history all over the world, yesterday, today and tomorrow. Little Black Girls were escorted to school by the U.S. Army back in the day that you called life as it used to be.
 
“parents kept tabs on their kids
 
On Chapel Street the boomer kids scurried out their homes with screen doors slamming. We were all free-range kids playing wildly, climbing trees in a large field behind the Anglican Church, broken arm or two. Kids went to The Park on their own. Fractures from dangerous, but exciting playground equipment. We knew the bullies and avoided them organically. Yes, there were violent kids back in the day, or as you put it, life used to be.
 
there were dances at the school where kids mingled – no more.”
 
No more proms? No more raves? No more house parties, basement rec room parties? Dances at school back in the day had a drunk or two that might cause a fight. It was part of the excitement of life, like going to see car races, anticipating crashes. Some toking back of the school to keep it groovy and mellow. Life as it used to be.    
 
Teenagers went out and did not fear being punched in the mouth and set on by other youths – spoke to more than one mother whose son had that experience.”
 
I had that experience myself, not recently, but back in the day, or as life used to be, as you put it.  Principal Gordon King, kicked me out of school and told me not to return until I got a haircut. Life as it used to be. My father committed suicide when I was 14 – and some kids taunted me as I went to school yelling “YOU’RE AS CRAZY AS YOUR OLD MAN” And that was back in the wonder years of life as it used to be.
 
Life is everything all at once yesterday, today and tomorrow.
 
You are conflating cannabis indulgence with the self-perceived deterioration of social life during your lifetime. The stats and facts suggest otherwise.

Liz
Reply to  Wally Keeler
3 years ago

Last comment Wally – I was surprised to find so many young people today marry the only person they have met and dated as they don’t meet any other partners as there is so few ongoing dances and teen activities. Later in their early twenties they confide the only place they can meet a potential partner is through a dating site even here in Cobourg!

I realize your memories are not from big city living but small town – perhaps if you had lived in one you would be more aware of how daily life there has so greatly changed for those growing up and the adults but wait Cobourg is growing perhaps as it does it will be in your face as well.

Last edited 3 years ago by Liz
Wally Keeler
Reply to  Liz
3 years ago

I realize your memories are not from big city living but small town…

Your presumptions about me are always wrong. I lived and worked in Toronto for 40plus years. Went during my youth, played with, worked with youth for the most part because of my cultural activities. Played with and worked with refugees and other immigrants from all over the world and listened to their stories of their lives as it used to be for them. Toronto is a very safe city compared to other cities all around the world.

it will be in your face as well.

Mean-spirited. Sigh.

Mark
Reply to  Liz
3 years ago

Liz, Have you been living in a fantasy world !

Liz
Reply to  Mark
3 years ago

Mark, Absolutely not. Where do you get that? Life was good. Families were families and they directed their children to independent contributing lives. Perhaps it is you that is living in a fantasy world Mark – smoking too much and not noticing the deterioration of life around you?

JimT
Reply to  Liz
3 years ago

♫ ♪ ♫ ♫ ♪
People seemed to be content
Fifty dollars paid the rent
Freaks were in a circus tent
Those were the days.
♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♫ ♪
Didn’t need no welfare state
Everybody pulled their weight
Gee, our old LaSalle ran great
Those were the days…!
♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♫

Liz
Reply to  JimT
3 years ago

Yes Jim – along those lines and sentiment. Our 57, 61, 65, Pontiacs and 70 Impala sure ran great.

Last edited 3 years ago by Liz
JimT
Reply to  Liz
3 years ago

Loved my Chevy Malibus. Both of them. Canoe on top, or skis in the winter.

Those were the days…!

Jojo
Reply to  Liz
3 years ago

I agree with your statement of our past Liz. Even if compared with “Pleasantville” film our mediocrity is found in obscurantism, “A season in hell” by Arthur Rimbaud. The nightmare is reinforced by incompetence. A world of “Men only” (like Pleasantville). Next thing you know our parks will be closed due to people behaving on psychoactive drugs. Some introverted people behave strange already.A general malaise from a cultural perspective lacking of tolerance and exposure to city life. (Some got fired and crawled back home). Education, artisanal talents and entrepreneurs, not only manufacturing skills are needed to have a better future, if we have one : less persecution, and BAN racism in this town. Some churches are more manipulative than others and very patriarchal and now with Covid-19 are targetting no mortgage widows relentlessly. The “State” is also behind that show Liz ! they call it “art work” advocating “no violence ( ie. mental and psychological abuse as well) against women” it is more than pitiful when the head of this town declared conflict of interest secretly. To get back to Marijuana, in my view it is a pacifier to calm down the “people”. The police will be at work even more…The liberal front of the “shadow” 🌚 is hiding behind that business.

Last edited 3 years ago by Jojo
Marie
3 years ago

To King Street we lure them, on Division we cure them……

Non-consumer
Reply to  Marie
3 years ago

Brilliant!

Gerinator
Reply to  Non-consumer
3 years ago

Agreed.

Informed
3 years ago

I remember my parents telling me to stay away from the pool hall that used to be in that area not far from there because of the drugs(pot).Times sure have changed.I walked by today and wanted to go to check it out but couldnt risk being seen by my 75 year old mother 🥴

Last edited 3 years ago by Informed
greengrass
Reply to  Informed
3 years ago

ain’t that the truth?

Mark
Reply to  Informed
3 years ago

But yet my 91 year old mom is taking pot to help her sleep instead of taking pills from the drug companies
maybe you should have go into the pool hall 😄

Liz
Reply to  Mark
3 years ago

Sounds like medical marijuana – prescribed by a doctor.
you wrote “maybe you should have go into the pool hall” — Don’t bogart that joint my friend, roll another one ….

Last edited 3 years ago by Liz
Gerinator
Reply to  Informed
3 years ago

Too funny. Good on you for ‘respecting your elders’.

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Gerinator
3 years ago

by deceit.

Conor
3 years ago

Holy Smokes! Between 38 King St W and 2 King St E you have 3 Cannabis Stores? This could be just the trick to attract more tourists especially to the beach. If somebody asks for directions just tell to look for the big cloud of smoke.

Wally Keeler
Reply to  Conor
3 years ago

It’s always been illegal to smoke weed on the beach; still is.
None of these stores belong to a local entrepreneur — why?

Last edited 3 years ago by Wally Keeler
Jones
Reply to  Wally Keeler
3 years ago

Maybe police can use the extra time to enforce noise bylaws around the marina area