School District No. 46 (SD46) trustees unanimously voted to request “the application for a temporary use permit for S&M Medicinal Sweet Shoppe be denied,” at a Dec. 12 board meeting.
The Town of Gibsons referral was initially reviewed at an operations committee meeting, where trustees “expressed concerns with the company’s marketing,” according to SD46 chair Pammila Ruth, who said the images of candies contained in the company’s marketing materials “could be seen as appealing to young persons.” The committee also said the business is located within the 300-metre buffer zone between school sites and cannabis stores and consumption lounges, established by the school district in November.
S&M Medicinal Sweet Shoppe is located at 706 Gibsons Way; nearby is Gibsons Elementary at 783 School Road.
The committee requested that should the permit be granted, “all exterior marketing be appropriate to the Cannabis Act and not seen to target children.”
Trustees reviewed an application for a retail cannabis operator on Marine Drive in lower Gibsons, as well, and found the school district’s “interests were largely unaffected.”
