From CTV News – link to source story🔗
Kendra Mangione, CTVNewsVancouver.ca Reporter and Producer | January 10, 2022
A small airport in British Columbia may be the world’s first to open a cannabis retail store.
If a business licence is granted, those passing through the airport in Prince George may be able to pick up some bud with their baggage by the end of the year.
According to the Prince George Airport Authority, the business is called Copilot, and is “pioneering cannabis for travel.”
The company has applied for a licence to operate at YXS. The PGAA said in a news release last week that if all goes to plan, Copilot will be the first cannabis retail store in an airport terminal anywhere in the world.
According to the airport authority, the company’s been working with regulators on the provincial and federal level on its licence, and now it’s waiting on approval from the city.
Council is expected to give the licence application a first read on Monday.
“We see YXS as the perfect location to launch our initial store and fulfill our mission of making travel a less stressful and more enjoyable experience for our customers,” Copilot co-founders Reed Horton and Owen Ritz said in a statement through the airport.
While access to airport cannabis may make travelling less stressful for some, it could land others in trouble.
It is illegal to take cannabis across federal borders, meaning anyone on an international flight can’t pack it on their departing or arrival flights.
Canadians travelling within the country can bring cannabis in their carry-on, as long as the amount isn’t greater than 30 grams, and they’re of legal age in the provinces they’re travelling into and out of.
The legal age is 19 in most Canadian provinces and territories, but it’s a year younger in Alberta, and two years older in Quebec.
