Town wants 'cautious' approach; hearing on Tuesday With cannabis legalization just months away, the District of Tofino is considering a bylaw that would heavily restrict where pot shops can operate in the community. A public hearing is set for Tuesday. People will be able to weigh in on the proposed bylaw, which would "prohibit the use of any land, building or structure for the sale, production or distribution of cannabis," according to a notice of public hearing on the district's website. [continues 340 words]
In an interview with The Citizen last April during the 2017 provincial election, NDP leader John Horgan admitted that government and politicians are behind public sentiment when it comes to marijuana. Knowing it and saying it is one thing but Horgan, now the premier, still seems reluctant to act on it, based on the additional details on a provincial pot policy the NDP government announced Monday that will take effect once marijuana is legalized later this year. "Some may think that this work will end in July when non-medical cannabis is legalized by the federal government," Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said. "But the truth is our government will be dealing with this significant change in policy for years to come." [continues 640 words]
Vancouver won't grant pot-shop licences to people with ties to illegal drugs, but critics urge reconsideration Rocco Dipopolo is an entrepreneur juggling three businesses - a tattoo parlour, a gym and a boxing clinic - in East Vancouver, an area of hipster coffee shops and chic duplexes that the 46-year-old remembers as gritty during his delinquent adolescence. Until recently, he also owned an illegal cannabis dispensary in the city's trendy Commercial Drive neighbourhood. He had to step away from that venture in order for it to secure a coveted business licence from the City of Vancouver. [continues 1336 words]
Coming soon to a storefront near you: a cannabis shop. The provincial government has brought down the latest of many new regulations as the date for legalization approaches. After much debate and much reading of tea leaves, the government says that legalized recreational marijuana will be sold at stand-alone stores, some run by private operators and others by the Liquor Distribution Branch. The distribution branch will be the wholesaler, and all will be overseen by the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch. [continues 548 words]
Comment: Feds should pump the brakes and rethink its token gesture on safety We're only seven weeks into the new year and already there are three major hurdles on the trucking industry's plate. The legalization of marijuana, the electronic logging devices (ELD) and either the total cancellation or just a fine-tuning of the North American Free Trade Agreement. That's more than enough for the trucking industry to swallow, so let me try to shed a little light on each of the three. [continues 647 words]
New Study: Fatal collisions involving young drivers increase by 38 per cent after pot-smoking celebrations The risk of a fatal accident among young drivers spikes by 38 per cent in the hours after 4/20 celebrations, according to new research from UBC and the University of Toronto. The finding suggests that mass marijuana celebrations may not be entirely without consequences. John Staples, a professor of medicine and researcher at UBC's Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences, said people aged 20 and younger had a much higher risk of a fatal crash on April 20 from 4:20 p.m. until midnight compared to the same period one week before and one week after. [continues 377 words]
An unusual aspect of Canada's soon-to-be-legal cannabis market is that the activists who led the legalization movement may find themselves excluded from the industry for which their efforts paved the way. Vancouver activists like Jodie and Marc Emery and dispensary pioneer Don Briere, for example, have criminal records for possessing and selling marijuana. Now those criminal records could be used against them in federal and provincial licensing systems that are under development to decide who gets to cultivate and sell recreational cannabis. [continues 769 words]
Dear Prime Minister Trudeau: I was wondering why you bother traveling all over the planet to climate change conventions to save the world from pollution but remain willing to return home and pass a bill that will cause our whole country to become polluted everywhere with the stinking, cloying smell of marijuana? That is OK for all you people who can afford a single-family dwelling where you can retreat, close the door and ignore the stink of the irritating smoke. But those of us who live in apartments, condos or other connected housing units aren't able to do that, leaving us at the mercy of our neighbours. Now we can at least, if someone is polluting our apartment building, phone the police and get help to stop the culprits. [continues 316 words]
To fight the opioid epidemic will take altering people's thoughts around drug abuse The way people feel about drug addiction has evolved significantly since the outbreak of the fentanyl crisis. But the shift from viewing addiction as a moral problem to treating it like any other health issue is a work in progress, says Rae Samson, a substance abuse worker at Interior Health. "I'm not sure if we are a generation away from making that shift, but a lot of work has been dedicated to that purpose in the past 20 years with tremendous gains. But there have been really rapid gains since the opioid crisis began," Samson said. [continues 391 words]
Overwhelming 'delayed symptoms' once again a worry as 4/20 event nears Calls to the B.C. Drug and Poison Information Centre have surged on the annual 4/20 cannabis event in Vancouver in recent years, according to a report by provincial health officials. "The 4/20 cannabis calls represent a real spike, way over what we see on ordinary days," said Dr. Tom Kosatsky, medical director of environmental health services for the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. He acknowledged that the total number of calls remains small, but is nevertheless growing. His report is published in the current B.C. Medical Journal. [continues 614 words]
In an interview with The Citizen last April during the 2017 provincial election, NDP leader John Horgan admitted that government and politicians are behind public sentiment when it comes to marijuana. Knowing it and saying it is one thing but Horgan, now the premier, still seems reluctant to act on it, based on the additional details on a provincial pot policy the NDP government announced Monday that will take effect once marijuana is legalized later this year. "Some may think that this work will end in July when non-medical cannabis is legalized by the federal government," Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said. "But the truth is our government will be dealing with this significant change in policy for years to come." [continues 652 words]
There was some good news out of the report the B.C. Coroners Service released Jan. 31, that overdose deaths declined in the last quarter of 2017 compared to 2016. There were 99 deaths last December, compared to 164 the previous year. But that's about all the good news. Overall, 2017 was the deadliest year for overdose deaths B.C. has ever seen, with 1,422 deaths compared to 914 in 2016. In the majority of those deaths - 81 per cent - the synthetic opioid fentanyl played a part. That's an increase over 2016 again, when the figure was estimated at 67 per cent. That many deaths makes you question just how much fentanyl is in circulation, and how many other overdoses there were that didn't result in death, thanks to naloxone or other lifesaving measures. [continues 199 words]
Municipalities across Metro Vancouver are considering their options when it comes to allowing legal cannabis retailers in their communities, following the release of new provincial policy around licensing. This week, the B.C. government said that under its proposed framework for the retail sales of non-medical cannabis, residents aged 19 and older will be able to buy cannabis through privately run or government-operated retail stores and online through the government once it is legalized in July. The Liquor Distribution Branch will operate public retail stores and the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch will license and monitor private stores. [continues 511 words]
British Columbia's civil forfeiture regime violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by forcing individuals to produce evidence against themselves and by resulting in penalties that are grossly disproportionate, says a new constitutional challenge. The case, which will proceed to trial in B.C. Supreme Court in November, stems from a 2015 police search of a multi-million-dollar home on Vancouver's west side that turned up hundreds of marijuana plants. It is expected to be the second constitutional case involving B.C.'s Civil Forfeiture Office heard this year; a case involving the Hells Angels is scheduled for April. [continues 672 words]
Forms are being sent out to households and businesses this month City staff have set an aggressive timetable for public debate over the future of cannabis sales and consumption in Nelson ahead of federal legalization this summer. Feedback forms are set to be sent the week of Feb. 12 to every household and business within city limits. The survey, which needs to be returned to City Hall by Feb. 28, will be used by staff and council to help draft regulations in March. [continues 618 words]
The province's opioid crisis is truly frightening. The death totals for 2017, released last week, are record-shattering - with 1,422 dead in B.C., including 200 in the Interior Health region and 19 in the Kootenay Boundary region. About four out of five who died were male and almost nine out of 10 deaths occurred indoors. The powerful opioid fentanyl was detected in 81 per cent of last year's deaths compared to about 67 per cent in 2016. [continues 626 words]
Dear editor: If cannabis legalization gets any more costly, we may need to revert back to the black market model. At least then, patients needn't struggle to get their medication. The current victims of the legalization effort are the dispensaries, and with them the patients. They filled a gap left when the government permitted medical marijuana in 2001, but left the patient without access to their medication. Fifteen years later, Neil Allard successfully sued the government for unduly restricting the access to medical cannabis. [continues 318 words]
A Green Gold Rush gets a wet blanket from a Father Knows Best government It should embrace the employment opportunities, the tourism potential, the joie de vivre with which California has legalized. The provincial government's initial plan for marijuana legalization must have been put together by spoilsports and dour Mrs. Grundies. It's tone-deaf. B.C. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth "sounded like the Grinch Who Stole Christmas unveiling details of the province's blueprint for cannabis," Ian Mulgrew writes. [continues 797 words]
Communities across British Columbia will have an easier time shutting down illegal marijuana dispensaries after the drug is legalized this summer and a provincial body is put in charge of making sure businesses comply with the new retail rules, according to the architect of Vancouver's landmark marijuana bylaw. The province's solicitor-general released details this week about how recreational cannabis will be sold in B.C. The system will be almost identical to the one for alcohol, allowing a mix of private or public stores to sell the substance - with the support of their local bureaucrats - once federal drug laws change this summer. [continues 678 words]
There is much to praise in the B.C. government's new retail regulatory regime for recreational cannabis. But there are also a few oddities that suggest Victoria hasn't moved beyond reefer madness as far as we thought. Handing responsibility for licensing and oversight of private pot shops to the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch seems a prudent move to ensure an orderly transition of store fronts operating outside the law to legal status. Allowing the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch to operate a stand-alone network of its own outlets mirrors the successful approach of selling wine in B.C. through private and public retail outlets. [continues 298 words]
Inside British Columbia
