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IQALUIT - When Ed deVries proposed opening a medical marijuana store to Iqaluit city council a few weeks ago, he knew it wouldn't be approved.

"I would have pooped popcorn, let me tell you, if they had have given me the big paper with a gold seal on it," he said.

Ed deVries said his proposal is just the first step of a long-term goal to start an entire medical marijuana program within Nunavut.

But deVries said the proposal is just the first step of a long-term goal to start an entire medical marijuana program within Nunavut.

"My plan would call for a vision in one, three and five years that would include developing an agrifarm, maybe a biodome and an agrifarm, to grow hemp as medicine, hemp as clothing, hemp for scientific research in medicine," deVries said."It would include the development of a greenhouse, and the development of a domestic supply that would include all the education, the employment opportunities and the technological advancement opportunities."

DeVries' plan also includes his original proposal of a store-front that would allow individuals to purchase marijuana. He said the store would function in the same way as its southern counterparts and only sell to people who provide a letter from a doctor indicating the person suffers from an illness, such as arthritis or epilepsy.

"The compassion clubs don't sell only to Health Canada licenced clients, they sell to people who have filled out an application, who have gone to their physician have had a statement of diagnosis," he said. DeVries said individuals would have to fill out an application package including their name, address and medical condition, as well as agreeing to restrictions on the use of marijuana sold from the store requiring them not to smoke in public.

"I know everybody's imagining this store-front with a little John Lennon hippie out front selling puffs and pot," deVries said.

He said his store would model the more professional-looking compassion clubs found down south. "When you walk in, it looks like you're walking into your chiropractor or your dentist's," he said.

Iqaluit Mayor Elisapee Sheutiapik said while council didn't approve deVries' licence (he would still need approval from the federal and territorial governments), members appreciated his presentation and treated his proposal like any other business licence application.

"It was good, it allowed him to educate us about what he was proposing. After that was done he did follow through with his application to the economic development officer and it went through the regular process," Sheutiapik said.

DeVries agreed that his application was treated with equal consideration by Iqaluit's economic development officer.

"She did very thorough research and treated the application on par with any other licence application of considerable controversy or weight that would come across her desk," he said.

Blair Longley, leader of Canada's Marijuana Party, said when it comes to opening a compassion club, the attitude of the community is key.

"It's a very strange kind of political context whether the local communities standards tolerate it," Longley said. "Theres a huge range of compassion clubs as far as how discreet they are, some don't advertise, don't have a website, they have a small membership that's their core."

DeVries said despite Iqaluit's comparatively small population, his project would be well-received in the community because it would provide jobs and make money for the city.

"This is a program that would be self-supporting, the clients support the program themselves," he said. "The money that would go back into the coffers of the city after all costs, the potential is $20 million in the first year and that's based on 3,000 people."