It’s ridiculously easy to get weed from a storefront in Ottawa today.

With the number of pot shops in the city on the upswing, despite multiple dispensary employees facing drug-trafficking charges following police raids, the Citizen visited the city’s 17 known cannabis stores to find out how they’re screening customers.

Distroscale

The dispensaries are, of course, illegal . But when many of them opened in Ottawa, operators stressed their businesses were serving people who needed medical marijuana.

During the Citizen’s informal audit, only four of 17 shops asked for any sort of official documentation to prove a medical official had approved cannabis as a treatment. One of the four wouldn’t discuss selling marijuana until the Citizen reporter signed a membership form. (The reporter declined to sign the membership form.)

Thirteen stores, meanwhile, indicated the reporter could purchase pot without medical approval.

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A Citizen reporter visited the 17 dispensaries over a three-day period this week posing as a customer without medical approval. No cannabis or weed products were purchased during the short visits.

The visits by suggested raids and arrests haven’t intimidated the majority of these weed shops, which blatantly sell pot and infused products, and in some cases acknowledge their products are for recreational use.

Clearly the federal Liberals’ plan to legalize and regulate cannabis by this time next year has people eager to cash in, even though the province hasn’t determined where pot will be sold

Once Ontario establishes a regulatory regime, city hall will likely consider its own strategy for applying bylaws, such as zoning rules, to retailers.

Ottawa police have maintained they will continue to investigate storefront weed shops. It’s still a crime to possess and sell pot for non-medical purposes.

People with documentation from their health-care providers can legally buy, and receive through the mail, cannabis from 52 producers currently licensed by Health Canada.

But the illegal storefronts provide immediate access.

During the visits, store workers usually said they needed to see ID before selling, since the general philosophy is to only sell weed to people 19 years old or older. Some shops have signs telling people not to enter if they’re younger than 19.

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Among the most overt businesses was Cannabis Culture on Bank Street in Centretown, where a worker noted it’s a “recreational dispensary.” Customers need only show their IDs before going into a back room to choose a product.

At Wee Medical on Rideau Street, a worker said it was none of his business to know customers’ medical conditions if they wanted to buy.

At many places, anyone interested in buying products needed to fill out a form, which could include an explanation of a medical condition, but still no requirement to provide medical proof of that condition.

For example, the form at 613 Medicinals on Montreal Road has a line to write a “medical reason” for buying products.

The GreenTree shops on Preston Street and Montreal Road just wanted to see photo ID before selling. The Preston location permitted sniffing the cannabis in jars (in this case, the “watermelon” product) when asked about a good product to relieve headaches.

A handful of shops indicted they required some form of official documentation beyond an ID card.

The man behind a service window at the Ottawa Cannabis Dispensary on Laperriere Avenue said customers need to show an “LP” card — licensed producer card — before shopping. The painted-green building with a white medical-like cross above the door is behind a food stand and diagonally across the street from a Montessori school.

At the OMD in the Antares Drive business park, a woman behind a window said she needed to see an LP card, doctor’s prescription or a National Access Canada card.

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In a business park on Canotek Road in the east end, a staffer at Greenworks Medicinal said he needed to see a prescription from a doctor.

A friendly young man behind the counter at Weeds on Bank Street explained that a doctor’s note or prescription was mandatory before customers signed up for a membership. He wouldn’t even talk about the products the store offers until there was proof of that documentation.

It was a similar experience at Smoke Signalz on Wellington St. W., where a woman was reluctant to discuss the weed in the store until a membership form was signed. Instead, she directed questions about the product to the WeedMaps website

Shops are branching out to markets beyond the toking crowd. There were canned drinks, candy and chocolate bars in glass display counters at some locations.

At Lifeline Medicinals on Rideau Street, anyone who wanted to buy an infused syrup needed to first sign a waiver. Apparently they’re concerned about people slurping the highly potent syrup before operating heavy machinery.

The results of our window shopping

Smoke Signalz (Wellington Street West location) – Didn’t ask for medical proof

Green Tree (Preston Street location) – Didn’t ask for medical proof

Weeds – Asked for medical note or prescription

Cannabis Culture – Didn’t ask for medical proof

Wee Medical (Rideau Street location) – Didn’t ask for medical proof

Dr. Greenthumbs – Didn’t ask for medical proof

The OMD – Asked for medical proof

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Ottawa Cannabis Dispensary – Asked for licensed producer ID

CannaBotanix – Didn’t ask for medical proof

Lifeline Medicinals – Didn’t ask for medical proof

Smoke Signalz (Rideau Street location) – Didn’t ask for medical proof

613 Medicinals – Didn’t ask for medical proof

Green Tree (Montreal Road location) – Didn’t ask for medical proof

Greenworks Medicinal – Asked for doctor’s prescription

Smoke Signalz (St. Joseph Boulevard location) – Didn’t ask for medical proof

Wee Medical (St. Laurent Boulevard location) – Didn’t ask for medical proof

CannaGreen – Didn’t ask for medical proof