Pubdate: Mon, 09 Feb 2015
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2015 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: James Keller
Page: S1

VANCOUVER LOOKS TO REGULATE MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES

When Dana Larsen opened a medical marijuana dispensary in Vancouver's 
east side in 2008, he was more than a little nervous about what could happen.

There were already a handful of other storefront operations in the 
city openly defying federal drug laws by selling marijuana, hash and 
other cannabis products to customers claiming a medical need. But it 
still wasn't clear how long police and the local government would 
allow that to continue.

Police never came. And in the intervening 6 1/2 years, the number of 
dispensaries in Vancouver has exploded, with at least 60 operating in 
all corners of the city with relatively little interference from law 
enforcement.

"There has been no big outcry," says Larsen, a prominent marijuana 
advocate who is also vice-president of the Canadian Association of 
Medical Cannabis Dispensaries.

"If people were protesting our dispensaries and complaining and 
demanding something be done, maybe [the police would intervene].

"But dispensaries get very few complaints and raids against 
dispensaries get a lot of complaints."

In fact, rather than shutting dispensaries down, officials in 
Vancouver are doing just the opposite, investigating how the city can 
regulate an industry that has until now existed in a grey area of the law.

Vancouver Councillor Kerry Jang says the city has run out of patience 
with the federal government, which has ruled out legitimizing dispensaries.

Mr. Jang recently asked municipal staff to determine whether 
dispensaries can be zoned as pharmacies, which would give the city 
the ability to directly oversee such operations and control their growth.

"If we did that, we would be actually starting to regulate the number 
of dispensaries per street, their location, the same way we do with a 
regular pharmacy," says Mr. Jang, who teaches psychiatry at the 
University of British Columbia's medical school.

"The concerns are the same, especially for pharmacies that dispense methadone."

Vancouver's first medical marijuana dispensary opened more than a 
decade ago, and for years there were fewer than half a dozen in the 
city. Recently, however, that number has grown exponentially, 
particularly in the past year.

In comparison, the Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis 
Dispensaries says it knows of about 35 such facilities elsewhere in 
British Columbia, and just 20 in the rest of the country, mostly in 
Ontario and Quebec.

Those dispensaries all operate outside the federally regulated 
system, which the government overhauled last year to switch 
production from home grow-ops to large-scale commercial operations. 
Dispensaries were illegal under the old system and that didn't change 
last year.

Supporters of dispensaries argue the new federal system doesn't meet 
patients' needs, either because the legal marijuana is too expensive, 
supply is low or commercial producers don't offer an adequate variety 
of strains. The commercial system also doesn't produce edible 
products or oils, but dispensaries do.

Whether the laws are enforced, however, depends on local police.

Police in Vancouver have raided dispensaries in the past, but it 
isn't common. Constable Brian Montague says the force doesn't 
consider dispensaries a priority unless they are selling to minors or 
police receive complaints about specific public-safety concerns.

"We focus our resources on violent drug traffickers," says Constable 
Montague, who suggests the law isn't as clear as it seems.

"If you look at the Criminal Code, it clearly says that selling 
marijuana is illegal, but there are lots of cases currently going 
through the courts that make that not so black and white. It's very grey."

There is no grey for the federal government.

Paul Calandra, parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister, says 
the government has no plans to formally legalize dispensaries.

"They were illegal before, they remain illegal today and as long as 
we're in government they will continue to be illegal," Mr. Calandra says.

"That is the law of the land, and we would hope our municipal and 
provincial partners would enforce the law as it stands today."

Some police agencies are enforcing the law.

Halifax police raided the city's only dispensary last year. Local 
RCMP officials in Grand Forks, B.C., and Parksville, B.C., recently 
warned prospective dispensaries they would be shut down if they open. 
Mounties raided a dispensary in Kelowna, B.C., last month, though two 
others in the city remain open.
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