Pubdate: Thu, 20 Apr 2017
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2017 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Susan Martinuk
Page: A9

IS IT POSSIBLE TO EVER PLEASE POT ACTIVISTS?

To those familiar with drug culture, April 20th has long been known as
4/20, a celebration marked by smoking pot and taking delight in all
things related to cannabis.

In Vancouver, the swelling numbers of 4/20 participants required that
the 2016 toke-fest be moved out of the downtown core to Sunset Beach
and its surrounding neighbourhood. An estimated 25,000 people used the
opportunity to purchase the latest marijuana products and collectively
generate an enormous haze that hovered over parts of the city.

It may have been a blast for those lighting up, but that single day
generated more complaints to the city than all other 2016 public
events combined. Not all Vancouverites appreciated the smoke, illegal
drug sales, noise, traffic congestion and huge piles of trash that
were left on the beach. marijuana users and advocates are above the
law and, as such, they feel justified in continuing to flout the very
laws and regulations that the rest of society is expected to follow.

For example, Vancouver has allowed the sale of medical marijuana by
licensed dispensaries since 2015. There are now as many as 130
dispensaries on the streets, yet fewer than 20 are licensed and
operating within the regulations. Many sellers were denied licences
because they violated regulations, including zoning bylaws requiring
them to be at least 300 metres from schools, community centres and
homes.

These sellers have refused to pay fines and continue to peddle their
illegal wares in flagrant disobedience of the law. Some medical
marijuana stores even have doctors on hand to provide medical
marijuana prescriptions to those who may not feel comfortable
approaching their own family physician.

The large number of sellers raises the obvious question - where are
they getting their marijuana?

Not from licensed producers. The amounts being sold can only be
supplied by illegal sources. A recent report in a Vancouver newspaper
conservatively claimed that Vancouver's illegal dispensaries sell more
marijuana in one month than all the licensed producers in Canada sell
in three months.

So much for the promised regulated sale of licensed medical marijuana
to only those who have legitimate marijuana prescriptions. In every
area where regulations and laws have been changed to allow greater
access to marijuana, advocates have abused the privileges granted to
them.

This arrogance is growing tiresome and the public will react as its
right to not be consumed by marijuana smoke is increasingly infringed
upon. Landlords and property owners are making headlines by raising
concerns about marijuana smoking in rental buildings and condos. Most
buildings have a strict no smoking policy, but if a tenant has a
licence to use medical marijuana, then the stage is set for the strata
council meeting from hell.

The plan laid out by the federal government last week for the eventual
legalization of marijuana ostensibly gives advocates what they want.

But they are already complaining about too many regulations in the
Liberal government's proposed bill, and chances are slim that they
will ever abide by the rules anyway.
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MAP posted-by: Matt