Pubdate: Wed, 24 Jan 2018
Source: Delta Optimist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2018 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc
Contact:  http://www.delta-optimist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1265
Author: Ted Murphy

DIFFERENT RECEPTION

Two vices are poised to potentially descend on Delta in the coming
months, but it's curious that the reception they're getting from city
leaders is markedly different.

The federal government is expected to legalize marijuana sometime
later this year, which has prompted those over at city hall to compile
a laundry list of concerns. Delta doesn't want to see pot grown on
local farmland due to its impact on food security and public safety,
worried that large-scale pot farms could be a draw for organized
crime. The city is also raising questions over public consumption,
where marijuana will be sold, how tax revenues will be split and more.

They're all legitimate issues that must be sorted out but it's hard
not to get the sense that Delta would have been a whole lot happier if
Justin Trudeau's Liberals had never started the country down this path.

Compare that with the $70-million casino/hotel complex Gateway Casinos
& Entertainment Ltd. is proposing to build where the Delta Town &
Country Inn now stands. Delta council won't make a decision on the
application until after a public hearing that will likely be held this
spring, but the fact the city expressed interest when the B.C. Lottery
Corporation came around looking to locate another gambling facility
south of the Fraser River suggests there's some level of support.

Delta hasn't been shy about writing to senior governments with its
thoughts on marijuana, but with the prospect of a gambling venue
operating here, the city hasn't had anything to say on the shocking
absence of regulations and enforcement that allowed large-scale money
laundering to take place at casinos across B.C. Funny, because I
thought we'd be talking about the same organized crime groups that are
poised to overrun our pot farms.

What's more, Gateway would like to break ground this fall, which would
make for an amazingly quick approval process given it only submitted a
formal rezoning application two months ago. Maybe that's just the
proponent being overly optimistic, but I get the sense the company
wouldn't feel that way without good reason.

The bottom line is that it's not blowin' smoke to suggest Delta has
millions of reasons to support the casino and far fewer to endorse
legalized pot.
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MAP posted-by: Matt