Pubdate: Wed, 24 Aug 2016
Source: Surrey Leader (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Surrey Leader
Contact:  http://www.surreyleader.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1236
Author: Tom Fletcher

MARIJUANA SHOPS HIGH ON MUNICIPAL DEMAND

B.C. communities struggling to deal with unregulated marijuana sales
are looking for help, or a piece of the action as growers and sellers
compete for a share of the expanding legal market.

Pot problems are high on the agenda for the annual Union of B.C.
Municipalities convention in September, as local governments continue
to deal with fire hazards and retail outlets selling untested
marijuana products in defiance of federal and local laws.

Nelson and Duncan councils are calling on the provincial and federal
governments to share tax revenue with local governments, when the
Justin Trudeau government puts its plan to legalize recreational
marijuana sales next year.

Nelson also wants a say in the legalization process, as a
federal-provincial task force tours the country to hear from public
health, police and substance abuse experts.

For now, B.C. is the Wild West of pot production. Communities that try
to regulate quasi-medical dispensaries find their tickets and orders
ignored as shops proliferate in a legal vacuum.

Langley fire officials determined this week that a recent house fire
was caused by an explosion in a marijuana "extraction lab" using
butane as a solvent. The process is used to make "honey oil" and
"shatter," a crystal concentrate that is one of the most potent
marijuana preparations. Oils and concentrates are sold in some
dispensaries and used in baked goods.

Nelson recently saw its eighth pot store open without a business
licence, as it considers regulations adopted in Kimberly and
Vancouver. Sooke has three dispensaries, as the issue moves to smaller
communities.

In the Okanagan, communities are taking a harder line. Penticton has
cancelled the business licences of medical marijuana shops, despite
their arguments that they are "compassion clubs" supplying people with
legally recognized medical uses.

Vernon council voted down a proposal to develop its own bylaw
regulating dispensaries, as Victoria and other communities are doing.
A staff report advised councillors that business licences have not
been issued because storefront sales remain illegal in Canada.
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