Pubdate: Fri, 02 Oct 2015
Source: Alberni Valley Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Glacier Community Media
Contact:  http://www.avtimes.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4043
Author: Tom Fletcher

'JUST LEGALIZE THE JUNK,' SAYS MCLEMAN

With medical marijuana dispensaries continuing to open in defiance of
federal law, more B.C. communities have joined the call for local
authority to regulate what are often little more than retail pot stores.

Lower Mainland communities found majority support at last week's Union
of B.C. Municipalities convention to bypass legal wrangling over
medical marijuana access, as a court challenge continues against the
Conservative government's strict controls on growing and selling it
legally.

Maple Ridge Coun. Corisa Bell said other cities are facing the same
issues as Vancouver, where about 100 dispensaries have opened in a
free-for all with street-level marketing to young people. Vancouver
ignored instructions from federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose to use
authorized sources of medical marijuana, and adopted a licensing
system last spring to keep pot shops away from schools, community
centres and each other.

Vancouver set a licence fee of $30,000 for dispensaries and $1,000 for
non-profit "compassion clubs," with Victoria preparing to follow suit.

But other communities don't have the same revolutionary
zeal.

Esquimalt Coun. Susan Low, whose community banned the pipe-headed
mascot "Bongy" from hawking wares of a marijuana paraphernalia store
in 2013, said she isn't qualified to regulate medical pot.

The Lower Mainland proposal also doesn't prevent a patchwork of
different rules in adjoining communities, Low said.

Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart said the latest resolution seems
intended to stick to municipal authority over location and zoning, but
it doesn't say so explicitly, and the UBCM loses credibility when it
wanders outside its mandate.

Port Alberni Coun. Jack McLeman said he supports the two-year-old UBCM
endorsement of legalizing pot, although his drug of choice for pain is
Scotch whisky. He said his council has been approached about medical
dispensaries, and invited applications, but no one followed through.

"Just legalize the junk," McLeman said. "Don't tell me it's your
aspirin."

Maple Ridge Coun. Craig Speirs drew laughter from delegates when he
said there was "some consternation" when his city's first dispensary
opened, "but it's proved to have a calming effect on the
neighbourhood."

The motion to support municipal control over pot stores passed in a
show of hands, with about one third of those attending opposed.
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MAP posted-by: Matt