Pubdate: Thu, 18 Apr 2013
Source: Maple Ridge Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc
Contact:  http://www.mrtimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1372
Author: Maria Rantanen

PUBLIC WEIGHS IN ON GROW-OP BYLAW

Council Is Considering Restricting Legal Marijuana Production to 
Industrial Areas

Legal medical marijuana grow operations could be good for the local 
economy, according to former Maple Ridge councillor Craig Speirs.

In a letter to council, he stated his opposition to a proposed bylaw 
for Maple Ridge that would restrict legal grow-ops to agricultural 
areas - the bylaw was the subject of a public hearing on Tuesday evening.

"In my view the best place to establish this industry is within our 
many under utilized industrial areas, where security and services are 
readily available," Speirs said. "Isolating these facilities on 
farmland will just make them a target."

A facility that is inspected and properly installed will protect the 
building it's housed in, making it more secure, he said, adding that 
legal marijuana grow-ops could be a "positive influence within an 
industrial area."

The federal government is changing its regulations around marijuana 
growing, and it's expected that personal licences will eventually be 
eliminated and new licences will be issued for larger production facilities.

Speirs said the proposed bylaw doesn't encourage marijuana grow-ops, 
rather it discourages it.

The staff report for the proposed bylaw to "direct the use of medical 
marijuana production" states that "recent history has revealed the 
potential adverse health and safety, social, environmental and 
law-enforcement implications of marijuana production in the community."

Maple Ridge Councillor Mike Morden initiated the proposed bylaw. He 
said he's seen the "deleterious" effects of illegal grow-ops on the community.

There might be some need to tweak the bylaw before passing it, Morden 
said, but he doesn't want to see grow-ops going into industrial areas.

"It's either going into the agricultural [zone] or it's gone - that's 
my opinion," Morden said.

The federal legislation will mean that either marijuana grow-ops are 
done the "right way" or shut down, he said.

Morden is pleased that the District is able to assert its authority 
over land-use issues in regards to grow-ops.

About a half a dozen people came to the meeting to present their 
views on the bylaw, which is set to go before council again on April 23.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom