Cannabis will be sold legally in Hay River after prohibition of the substance lifts on October 17.
On July 9, Hay River town council voted three-to-one to forego a plebiscite on whether to ban or restrict the drug, opening the door to cannabis sales at the Hay River Liquor Store this fall.
As part of the territory's legalization process, NWT communities were given the option of holding a plebiscite on whether to prohibit or restrict cannabis within their jurisdictions in a similar manner to alcohol.
Deputy mayor Donna Lee Jungkind cast the lone 'no' vote, indicating her wish to hold a plebiscite, and Coun. Kandis Jameson was absent.
There was no discussion of the matter before council voted, but after the Monday evening meeting, Jungkind lamented the outcome.
She said the community should have a say in whether cannabis becomes a regular feature of Hay River's retail economy.
"The part that bothers me the most about the whole thing is we have our chief medical officer of the NWT telling us that marijuana affects brain development and that our kids' brains are not fully developed until between the ages of 24 and 25," said Jungkind.
"And yet, the federal government is saying it's legal at the ages of 18 or 19, so I have a huge issue with that, and what message we're sending to our youth."
Jungkind fears that legalization will normalize the drug: that if the government says it's OK to sell, than young people will consider it OK to smoke.
A plebiscite, she said, would have been Hay River's opportunity "to send a message that we don't want it in our community."
At the same time, conceded Jungkind, Hay River residents probably would have voted 'yes' to cannabis anyway.
For at least six months after legalization, cannabis in the Northwest Territories will be sold exclusively at liquor stores and through the mail.
After that time, the finance minister can greenlight a private pot shop based on whether he deems it to be in the public interest.
In the meantime, the Hay River liquor store is gearing up to sell cannabis with what little details there are about where the weed will come from, what strains will be available, how much the substance will cost.
"We don't really have a whole lot of information," Ryan Rowe, manager of the Hay River Liquor Store said on July 9.
He said the NWT Liquor Commission is making the cannabis-related decisions.
Still, Rowe is confident that when the prohibition officially ends, his shop will be ready.
"I don't think four months is an extremely short amount of time to get (the cannabis) information," he said.
Rowe said the NWT liquor commission will decide whether the liquor store on Capital Drive will be renovated or modified to accommodate cannabis and any related products.
Though not absolutely certain, Rowe believes he will be able to sell paraphernalia, such as pipes and bongs.
How much revenue pot sales are expected to bring into Hay River is unclear.
The CBC reported that the GNWT estimates cannabis will generate $400,000 for the territory in the first year of sales.
Todd Sasaki, spokesperson for the Department of Finance, has said prices will vary depending on the quality of the product.
Sasaki did not provide answers to the Hub's questions about cannabis sales in Hay River before this week's print deadline.
Rowe said he is looking forward to selling cannabis, and has been reading up on different growers and strains.
"We already sell a controlled and regulated product, so it's something we're comfortable doing," he said.
"It's a new challenge."