Pubdate: Thu, 25 Jun 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: Mike Hager
Page: A1

VANCOUVER BECOMES FIRST TO REGULATE POT DISPENSARIES

The City of Vancouver has approved a two-tier licensing system to 
curb the explosion of illegal medical marijuana dispensaries, defying 
warnings from the federal government by becoming the first 
jurisdiction in Canada to regulate storefront pot sales.

Councillors voted on Wednesday to introduce a new business licensing 
system for compassion clubs and dispensaries, whose numbers have 
ballooned to about 100 across the city, up from a handful just 
several years ago. The vote followed extensive public hearings, in 
which most speakers generally supported regulation, and stern letters 
from federal cabinet ministers urging council to abandon its plan. 
The provincial Health Minister and the head of the local health 
authority have voiced their support for the rules, and Victoria's 
mayor says her staff are already studying Vancouver's new bylaw and 
will report back to council in September about imposing similar 
regulations on the 19 dispensaries in that city.

Before they voted, Mayor Gregor Robertson and all six councillors 
from his governing Vision Vancouver party lambasted the federal 
Conservative government as being "tone deaf" on the issue of 
dispensaries and for creating a licensed medical marijuana system 
they say is difficult for many patients to access.

Councillor Geoff Meggs said Vancouver's regulations send federal 
Health Minister Rona Ambrose a clear message to "wake up."

"You are completely out of touch with the realities on the ground," 
Mr. Meggs said of the minister. "The policies that you're advocating 
are backwards and destructive and they've driven us to take the steps 
that are necessary here today."

Ms. Ambrose said in an e-mailed statement she was "deeply 
disappointed" by the vote, which she said would make it easier for 
kids to obtain and smoke marijuana.

"Regulating marijuana in the same manner [as alcohol] could mean as 
much as tripling its use by youth," the statement said. "These stores 
have absolutely no regard for the rule of law and have been caught 
selling marijuana to kids."

Ms. Ambrose's statement said storefronts selling pot are illegal and 
she expected "the police to enforce the law," but she didn't say 
whether her department would take any steps to intervene.

The dispensaries operate outside the federal government's medical 
marijuana program, which permits about 20 industrial-scale producers 
to sell the drug, in its dried form, directly to patients through the mail.

Under Vancouver's new system, retail pot shops will be charged a 
yearly licensing fee of $30,000 and must be at least 300 metres from 
schools, community centres and other dispensaries or compassion clubs.

The fee will drop to $1,000 for non-profit compassion clubs, which 
must also offer their members other "non-marijuana health services" 
such as acupuncture and massages.

Compassion clubs will also get priority in situations where the city 
must break up a group of shops that are clustered too close together.

About two-thirds of the city's existing dispensaries are expected to 
close or relocate under the new rules. City staff said a maximum of 
about 94 locations could operate under the spacing guidelines of the 
new bylaw, which could be enforced using fines and even court 
injunctions for pot shops that don't co-operate.

Several of the city's oldest compassion clubs will be forced to move, 
despite years of advocating for patients and having "become part of 
the fabric of their community," according to Jamie Shaw, spokeswoman 
for the B.C. Compassion Club Society.

She said she hoped there were licensing loopholes that would allow 
her non-profit to avoid moving, which would likely be too costly for her club.

Shortly after Vancouver announced plans to regulate marijuana shops, 
Ms. Ambrose wrote councillors a letter urging the city and its police 
force to shut down the dispensaries. Public Safety Minister Steven 
Blaney echoed that message.

Criminologist Neil Boyd of Simon Fraser University, an expert on 
illegal drugs, called Ms. Ambrose's response "posturing to the base 
of the Conservatives" and said the federal government could likely 
only challenge the bylaw through the courts.

However, he predicted such a challenge would be "costly and 
counterproductive" as the tide of public opinion in Canada continues 
to shift in favour of decriminalizing, regulating and taxing marijuana.

"Are we going to go back to outright criminalization? I can't imagine 
how or why that would happen and I don't think people want that to 
happen," he said.

Still, he said similar bylaws are unlikely to start cropping up in 
cities across Canada any time soon, because such an approach only 
works in communities such as Vancouver, where "it's clear there's 
tolerance and acceptance" of storefront pot sales.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom