Winnipeg police say a business owner who invites medical marijuana smokers to light up inside his lounge isn’t actually breaking the law.

Glenn Price, owner of Your Medical Cannabis Headquarters, re-opened his Main Street store on Tuesday as a lounge where users can medicate with marijuana. He was arrested for selling medical marijuana without Health Canada clearance on Aug. 4.

On Wednesday, Winnipeg police confirmed the new format, which no longer includes marijuana sales, is not illegal — as long as his users don’t break the law either.

“Provided Mr. Price does not possess cannabis marijuana without a license or registration card, and does not dispense any cannabis marijuana to any citizen, he is not breaking the law. If Mr. Price is in the presence of cannabis marijuana from another unlicensed or unregistered marijuana user, police will investigate that complaint like any other,” stated the Winnipeg Police Service in an e-mail.

To use the drug legally, a registered medical marijuana user must purchase it from a Health Canada-regulated dispensary by mail order only, which would ensure it isn’t contaminated by mould, pesticides or insecticides.

A licence or registration card, which requires a doctor’s prescription to get, must be carried by the user to legally possess the pot.

“Simply having a prescription for medical marijuana is not enough as the application process has not been completed and the individual is therefore in violation of the law,” the e-mail noted.

Price also hopes to sell T-shirts and other non-drug-related items, while he gathers signatures on a petition to allow medical marijuana dispensaries in Winnipeg.

Price is currently charged with trafficking a scheduled substance, possession of a scheduled substance for the purpose of trafficking, possession of proceeds of property obtained by crime and possession of a scheduled substance. He was released on a recognizance.

Medical marijuana dispensaries do operate legally in Vancouver without Health Canada clearance.