Pubdate: Fri, 10 Jan 2014
Source: Coast Reporter (CN BC)
Copyright: 2014 Coast Reporter
Contact:  http://www.coastreporter.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/580
Author: John Gleeson

GROW-OP INSPECTION REGIME SPARKS CONCERN

A Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) director has raised 
concerns about the safety inspection regime for commercial medical 
marijuana production facilities.

"If the RCMP aren't charged with that responsibility, I'd like to 
know what kind of inspections Health Canada is going to actually put 
in place," Roberts Creek director Donna Shugar said at the Jan. 6 
policing committee meeting.

Her comments followed a report to the committee by Sunshine Coast 
RCMP Staff Sgt. Herb Berdahl, who was asked in November to clarify 
the RCMP's role in medical marijuana grow-op inspections under Health 
Canada's new program.

"In a word, nothing," Berdahl told the committee on Monday. "The 
police have absolutely no responsibility for inspections of any kind. 
It falls to Health Canada. They do their own inspections."

Berdahl added that Health Canada inspectors, to his knowledge, "are 
few and far between."

That did not sit well with Shugar, who said one of Health Canada's 
stated reasons for implementing new regulations was to address abuses 
such as booby-trapping, bypassing power and growing more plants than 
the amount allocated to producers.

"My understanding was that the new regulations would counterbalance 
the ability to do that," Shugar said. "Without regular inspections, 
that's not available, so I'm quite concerned that there will not be 
any regular inspections."

The committee adopted Shugar's recommendation to refer the issue to 
the SCRD's planning department "to look at how we are going to ensure 
the safety of our first responders and fire departments and so on, if 
there's no inspections taking place."

The issue of security for medical marijuana operations was also 
raised at the meeting, with school trustee Greg Russell pointing to 
"the rather large operation" being proposed in Port Mellon.

"Who's going to be responsible for ensuring the security of that 
facility?" Russell said. "I'm worried, I guess."

Berdahl said the Health Canada regulations would dictate the level of 
security required.

"If there's a breach, we will investigate it just like a break-in to 
a drug store or a shoe store."

Board chair Garry Nohr said directors recently toured a large medical 
marijuana operation in Maple Ridge that will officially begin 
production on April 1, when the new Health Canada regulations take effect.

"They had security like you wouldn't believe," Nohr said.

Other directors concurred, noting the facility had cameras, sound and 
motion sensors, thick walls and a vault for storing the product, 
while a bonded courier would be used to ship small amounts at a time.

"It's going to be like a Hollywood movie to break into those things," 
committee chair Lorne Lewis said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom