Pubdate: Wed, 29 Apr 2015
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2015 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Brian Hutchinson
Page: A1

PROPOSED POT RULES MISS THE OBVIOUS

Contrary to rumour and reputation, this is an aggressively 
entrepreneurial city. A hub of commerce and industry, free of 
job-killing red tape and bureaucratic meddling. Well, not really. But 
Vancouver is home to at least one phenomenally successful, unfettered 
growth industry: retail cannabis.

These are high times for Lotusland pot dealers. The local market is 
unregulated, lawless and (reluctantly) tolerated by city officials. 
No surprise, the scene is getting crowded. Even silly. Truth be told, 
it's a bit of a bummer.

Three years ago, there were around 20 marijuana dispensaries in the 
city, the most in Canada by far. By January this year, another 40 
shops were in business. Today, more than 80 unlicensed, unregulated 
dispensaries compete for pot smokers in Vancouver, according to city 
officials. At the current rate, marijuana stores may soon challenge 
coffee shops for local retail supremacy.

The number of weed vendors is staggering, especially given that the 
trade remains illegal in Canada. Local dealers and growers have 
happily exploited the City of Vancouver's confusion and indecision 
over such marijuana matters as local law enforcement, statute 
interpretation and jurisdiction, and municipal zoning. None of the 
city's 80-plus pot shops operate with a local business licence.

At last, some simple fixes are coming. On Tuesday, city councillors 
examined a report from Vancouver's Chief Licence Inspector and its 
general manager of Planning and Development; they recommend a unique 
and long overdue regulatory scheme for local marijuana retailers. 
Regulations proposed in the report include new zoning, bylaw and 
business licence requirements for local pot shops; enforceable public 
health, safety and fire code provisions; criminal background checks 
for retail operators and their employees; a ban on dispensaries 
located within 300 metres of a school or community centre; a ban on 
sales to minors and storefront advertising; and rules preventing 
retail shops from "clustering" or concentrating in one area.

Council agreed Tuesday on sending the recommendations to a public 
hearing for community input.

Some Vancouver residents have come to accept the city's ad hoc, 
hands-off approach, and many argue that in-store sales reduce the pot 
trade's criminal element. But there are downsides. In my residential 
neighbourhood, for example, a "dispensary" opened on a side street, 
directly across from a grade school, a library and a community 
centre. Why? Because it could.

It could not happen in officially pot-legal U.S. states such as 
Washington and Colorado, where rules prohibit retail marijuana 
outlets from operating next to schools.

Vancouver's proposed rule changes are far from draconian, but they 
aren't perfect, either. The city report doesn't address sticky issues 
such as illegal wholesale marijuana production and distribution - 
presumably because such matters fall outside municipal jurisdiction, 
and are more easily ignored than considered.

Worse perhaps, the report peddles the bogus notion that Vancouver's 
80-plus pot shops sell their product for medical purposes only, to 
ailing customers clutching legitimate doctors' notes and valid 
"prescriptions." This is ludicrous. The recreational use market far 
exceeds any "health-care" segment, and accounts for the spike in 
storefront openings. Incredibly, there's not a word in the report 
about this dominant market, and what to do about it, if anything.

Instead, says the report, the surge in local marijuana retail sales 
"may be due to various studies that have found that marijuana 
provides health benefits including relief from chronic pain, 
mitigation of anti-retroviral therapy-related nausea, benefits to 
those suffering from multiple sclerosis, and to control symptoms of 
bipolar disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder."

The report does strive for some balance on the health side, noting 
that "some concerns" are attached to marijuana use, such as 
"impairment of memory (in adolescents) and psychomotor performance; 
schizophrenia; cancer of the mouth, jaw, tongue and lung (in younger 
people); fetotoxicity; and leukemia in children."

Sure to be contentious is the report's proposed $30,000 annual 
licence fee for dispensaries. Typical licence fees start at $240. If 
adopted by the city after public hearings, the $30,000 charge might 
kill off a few of the existing pot shops; so would anti-clustering 
and location regulations, if adopted.

Local marijuana impresario Don Briere wouldn' t mind seeing some of 
the competition knocked to the sidelines. He has already opened 15 
dispensaries in Vancouver and its suburbs since 2013 and owns a 
number of them outright. More stores should operate like his, he 
says: Tidy, secure, and well away from schools.

"I think the report is fabulous," says the 63-year-old businessman. 
"Vancouver is leading the way, setting sensible rules and regulations 
for the sale of cannabis. It's a win-win for everyone." As for the 
proposed rule limiting a person to one marijuana retail business 
licence, Mr. Briere and his lawyer agree that there's likely "a way 
around that."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom