Pubdate: Thu, 26 Nov 2015
Source: Free Press, The (Fernie, CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Black Press
Contact:  http://www.thefreepress.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/999
Author: Leah Scheitel

LOCALS PETITION COUNCIL TO CONSIDER A MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARY

Local medicinal marijuana advocates are asking Fernie city council to
consider overriding a bylaw prohibiting them from receiving a business
license.

The group, led by James Gittens, is interested in opening a medicinal
marijuana dispensary, enabling patients to have access to high quality
marijuana for medicinal purposes. Gittens said he is hoping that the
City of Fernie will take a proactive approach to the issue.

"We are hoping that they will be proactive because what is happening
across Canada is that there is a plethora of black market dispensaries
opening without any oversight by the municipal government. We are
looking for a really proactive approach. This is coming," he said.

In accordance with city bylaws, the city cannot grant a business
license that is not in compliance with federal or provincial
regulations. As marijuana is still considered an illegal substance by
federal laws, the city would be neglecting their own bylaws if they
granted the group a business license to open a medicinal marijuana
dispensary.

Gittens, along with Jeremy Grassic and Marsha Churchill, presented to
council on Nov. 9, asking them to consider granting a business license
despite Bylaw 2028, which outlines requirements for business licenses.

"We were in there to ask if they could override a particular part of
the bylaw, which states that you cannot run a business that
contravenes federal law," said Gittens.

Fernie isn't the first city to be confronted with this request. In
June, the City of Kimberley granted a business license to a medicinal
marijuana business, making headline news across the country. According
to Scott Sommerville, chief administrative office for the City of
Kimberley, the councillors agreed that the benefits of a medicinal
marijuana dispensary would outweigh the potential risks.

"The first applicant came forward and put in an application and I
denied it because our bylaw says we can't grant licenses to businesses
that go against either city bylaws, provincial laws or law of the
Dominion, which are federal laws," said Sommerville. "They came to
council and they gave a very heartrending version of why they wanted
to do this and what their own personal experience was and council
passed a resolution to issue them a license. And we had two other
applicants, and same thing - both of them came to the delegations,
spoke to council and after their delegation, council instructed staff
to issue them a license."

Sommerville said news outlets and mayors from across Canada contacted
their city hall, asking why they decided to go ahead with granting the
business licenses.

"We were being asked for interviews all the way from Fernie to
Ottawa," he said.

"Kimberley set precedent in Canada because they actually enabled small
business and entrepreneurs to get a business license first," said
Gittens. "Kimberley is awesome because they kind of saw the writing on
the wall and they're actually controlling the market by giving
business licenses. They're not having dispensaries just randomly open,
which I think is really progressive. So that's what we are hoping the
City of Fernie will do."

City councillor Jon Levesque said that the issue is multi-faceted, but
one that the City of Fernie needs to start researching.

"We knew this was coming. It is inevitable," he said. "We need to
think about what this means for our communities."

Levesque attended a seminar about marijuana in communities at the
Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) conference in Vancouver this fall
and said there are three main categories that marijuana dispensaries
affect - the legal ramifications, the public health concerns and the
reality of how it will operate in a community. He believes the area
that council can have the biggest impact on right now is education.

"If we look at all three - the legalization portion, if we have an
appetite for risk as a community, we can do what Kimberley did, but
I'm not sure I'm convinced that's the best route either, especially if
our current [federal] government is looking at ways to make it that no
one has to go to jail. I think that the heavy lifting that we have to
do as municipal councillors or as politicians is focus on the
education of it. Informing our plebiscite, informing our citizens,
providing contextual information," he said.

The main issue, according to Gittens, is the timeline. Justin
Trudeau's Liberal government is starting to look into legalizing and
decriminalizing marijuana, which would enable Gittens to receive the
business license without issue. However, he is concerned about how
long that might take and the fact that local people could benefit from
medical marijuana now.

"I just don't think that people should have to wait. I think that
there is benefit to this," Gittens said. "People have waited long
enough for this stuff, they really have. Why should they wait longer?"

Jeremy Grassic, who is a medical advisor to Gittens, said he has seen
many patients in his massage therapy clinic that could benefit from
medicinal marijuana.

"Patients that weren't getting any help from anything else that went
on to use it and found it really useful," he said. "I just talked to a
patient whose biggest stress of it all was having to drive to Nelson
and pick up 70 grams of weed and then hiding it in his car and being
paranoid the whole way home that he was going to have to go through a
check stop."

Gittens and Grassic both said that they hope to provide a high quality
product, in accordance with the best practices, which is something
that is not regulated through black market products.

"Everything has got to be tested by best practices, so you make sure
there is no herbicides, you make sure there is no pesticides. In
Vancouver, they are not following a supply chain. There is no
oversight, they have no control over their product from hand to hand,"
Gittens said. "We'll have a barcode - this is where it came from, this
is where it was grown, this is the strain and you can follow that all
the way through. You need to have that, especially when you are
providing a health care product. Unless you have control over that
supply chain, what are you selling?"

While Levesque personally sees the benefits of medicinal marijuana, he
said right now the issue is black and white, as granting a business
license for a dispensary is currently illegal. While Sommerville and
the City of Kimberley understand that granting the business license
was in contravention of the bylaws, city council made a moral judgment
on the issue.

"It was a very quick and easy decision. They know that people are
using this for their health. Just about everyone that they know or
themselves have been personally affected, whether it's cancer or MS. I
think we are at a day and age where just about everyone knows someone
who could have been helped or has been helped through the use of
cannabis, so I think they thought it was the morally right thing to do
for the betterment of the community and for the health of the
community and I think that made it an easy decision for them," he said.

Regardless of legalities, Levesque agreed with Gittens in the fact
that council has to face this issue, and start a conversation about
the nuances of marijuana dispensaries, legal or not.

"If I got to speak to the City of Fernie and its citizens, I would say
that these are exciting times, that we are not without some heavy
lifting in front of us, and that I do appreciate why this is of
concern to many people," he said.

"It's important that we start talking about it and I encourage
everyone that has concerns or questions to come to the public input
sessions and committee of the whole and at the council meeting because
we do need to have this talk and we need to wrap our heads around it."
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MAP posted-by: Matt