Charlottetown — Cannabis stores are going up all over the country in anticipation of the substance becoming legalized in the coming months. However, on Prince Edward Island, the police are taking this opportunity to nab a few more illegal sales operations before the law comes into effect.
The online P.E.I. job board boasts several positions for clerks, managers and other staff for pot stores throughout the island. The problem lies in the legitimacy of the ads.
“I was very excited to see the job come up!” exclaimed Robin Harrison, a 36-year-old resident of Summerside, “but there was a line in the ad that threw me for a loop.” The line in question reads: “Preference will be given to candidates with cannabis retail sales experience,” which suggests that the hiring managers are looking for people who are already familiar with the sale of marijuana — i.e. drug dealers.
“I don’t want to be profiled as a drug dealer,” continued Harrison, “I’ve never…I mean I don’t…you know, sell pot.”
A reticent Harrison applied for the position online, and just a few hours later received a call from Summerside Police Services “on behalf of the PEI Liquor Control Commission.” She told us that the call wasn’t for an interview for the position, but they were more interested in the sales experience Harrison listed on her resumé.
“I should have known it was a trap,” she said. “Now I have to do weekends on suspicion of trafficking a controlled substance, all summer!”
The Manatee was able to secure a face-to-face meeting with the hiring manager for the PEILCC under whose banner the Government of P.E.I. plans to sell the marijuana when it becomes legal.
We asked them about the line in the ad demanding “retail sales experience.”
“I can assure you, I’m ‘not a cop,'” winked Paula Baker, as she moved a badge-shaped object out of our reporter’s sight, “I just want to make sure our dealers…I mean employees…have the proper qualifications.”