Pubdate: Wed, 22 Feb 2017
Source: Abbotsford News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2017 Abbotsford News
Contact:  http://www.abbynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1155
Author: Tyler Olsen
Referenced: Ruling: http://mapinc.org/url/9R3m3f14

COURT UPHOLDS CITY'S RIGHT TO FINE

Pot operations aren't legal, and so can't obtain business
licence

The City of Abbotsford can continue to fine marijuana dispensaries,
the province's Supreme Court ruled this week.

Justice Miriam Gropper ruled that Abbotsford's bylaws that don't allow
dispensaries to obtain a business licence are constitutional, and that
the operator of a now-closed dispensary was in breach of city rules.

The city had maintained that because dispensaries are illegal under
federal law, they could not issue a business licence to such
operations. That meant that any dispensaries operating in the city are
in breach of the city's business licence and zoning bylaw and hence
subject to fines.

In July, the operator of Mary Jane's Glass & Gifts, Don Briere, sued
the city, alleging its bylaws were unconstitutional.

But at the commencement of a November hearing in the suit, Briere
notified the court that Mary Jane's had closed and that he had agreed
to not operate another dispensary in Abbotsford. Nevertheless, Gropper
decided the case should proceed.

Having already closed his store, Briere made no submissions at the
hearing, and Grimmal ruled that "there being no argument to the
contrary," he had breached the city's bylaw.

She also ruled on the constitutionality of the bylaws.

Briere had originally claimed that dispensaries would soon be legal
given promised changes to marijuana laws, and that disabilities or a
lack of money left many of his clients unable to obtain medical pot
elsewhere.

But the Justice agreed that local concerns about land use, rather than
criminal matters, was the focus of the bylaw. The city, then, was
within its rights to regulate such operations.

"In respect of the operators' allegations of Charter breaches, the
Attorney General argues and I agree that whether the ACMPR impairs
access to medical marihuana is irrelevant in these proceedings,"
Gropper ruled, referring to federal rules governing medial marijuana.

"As noted, the existing federal law does not authorize access to
medical marijuana by marijuana dispensaries. The operators' position
speculates about a future challenge to federal regulations, a matter
that is not before me in this petition."
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MAP posted-by: Matt