Plans unveiled: Province announces legal age for buying recreational marijuana to be set at 19 Recreational marijuana will be available for sale at private and public retail outlets to people age 19 and older once the drug becomes legal next year, said the B.C. government. With legalization looming in July 2018, Solicitor-General Mike Farnworth unveiled details Tuesday on how B.C. plans to deal with the distribution and sale of non-medical pot - a move that would require amending or introducing 18 bills in the legislature. [continues 503 words]
B.C. decides marijuana will be sold in both gov't and privately owned outlets The B.C. government's decision that the private sector can have a role in the sale of marijuana next year comes as expected but still welcome news to Rob Lindsay. Lindsay, spokesman for one of the existing Kelowna pot shops, said he was "thrilled" with Victoria's announcement Tuesday that the retailing of marijuana will be accomplished through a mix of government-controlled and privately owned outlets. [continues 552 words]
British Columbia will introduce a system of public and private retailers to sell recreational cannabis and set a minimum age of 19 to buy and use the drug when it is legal next year. Solicitor-General Mike Farnworth released the NDP government's preliminary vision for legal cannabis on Tuesday after a consultation process that received nearly 50,000 submissions and sought input from First Nations and local governments. However, the precise details of how those public and private sales will be regulated won't be released until the end of next month, and Mr. Farnworth said the province is still determining whether the hundreds of people currently selling cannabis illegally through dispensaries will be allowed to enter the new market. [continues 400 words]
Legal age set at 19, but no word on pot being sold in liquor stores, pharmacies Recreational marijuana will be available for sale at private and public retail outlets to people age 19 and older once the drug becomes legal next year, said the B.C. government. With legalization looming in July 2018, solicitor general Mike Farnworth unveiled details Tuesday on how B.C. plans to deal with the distribution and sale of non-medical pot - a move that would require amending or introducing 18 bills in the legislature. [continues 760 words]
The fentanyl epidemic is a social crisis, not a medical one according to Dr. Mark Tyndall, who spoke last week at an event organized by Nelson's Fentanyl Task Force. Tyndall is a provincial expert on the opioid overdose crisis who brings a background in the study of disease in controlled populations to his work crafting policy for the provincial government at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. Speaking to about 100 local residents at the Prestige Lakeside Resort last Thursday, he argued that the opioid overdose epidemic has been amplified by the way in which drug policy has been enforced across the province. [continues 421 words]
Council also, planning public consultation on new cannabis rules Nelson council will place a moratorium on the opening of recreational cannabis retail businesses in Nelson until July 2018. At its Monday meeting, council made this commitment in anticipation of as-yet-unknown provincial and federal rules about recreational marijuana cultivation and sales. Council also decided to set up a process in January and February to ask the public what it thinks about recreational cannabis businesses in Nelson. "Do you want recreational cannabis dispensaries, where might they be, how many, what should the bylaws include in terms of consumption? And we want to hear from a broad spectrum of the community," Mayor Deb Kozak said. [continues 563 words]
The B.C. government stepped up its fight against the growing number of drug overdose deaths Friday with the launch of a new emergency response centre that will link to regional and community action teams on Vancouver Island and elsewhere. The emergency centre will have about 10 full- and part-time staff based at Vancouver General Hospital and backed by a team of experts. The centre will analyze data, spot trends and work with new regional teams at Island Health and the other four health authorities to improve front-line services. [continues 632 words]
Lessons are still being digested after a lethal batch of opioids in October put emergency workers to the test The first warning came mid-afternoon on a Thursday in late October, from a client at a downtown Victoria HIV/AIDS and harm-reduction facility. It was the day after "cheque day," when social-assistance payments are issued in B.C. - a period linked to an increase in overdoses and other related harms. But even with that factored in, front-line workers were getting the sense that things were worse than usual. [continues 1201 words]
Motacan Compassion Society is exempt from business licence requirement, operator argues A medical marijuana dispensary is suing the City of Abbotsford in an effort to remain open and avoid paying thousands of dollars in tickets. Motacan Compassion Society, which operates a storefront location in an alley off Montrose Avenue in downtown Abbotsford, says it is exempt from bylaws requiring a business licence due to its not-for-profit society status. In a petition filed last week in B.C. Supreme Court, "principal operator" David Smith claims Motacan is a registered society that provides "reasonable access to medical cannabis to members of the society on a highly subsidized basis." [continues 266 words]
West Kelowna is the latest B.C. city to petition the court to stop cannabis dispensaries from doing business. The city is alleging that the Black Crow Herbals Association, Okanagan Cannabis Solutions Society, Selina Lau, Ralph Krehbiel and Matthew Nicholas are operating without business licenses and it is petitioning the court for an order to stop them from continuing to do so. In the petition to the court, it says once the order is issued, the RCMP would be given the ability to arrest and remove any person who is contravening any provision of this order within the properties listed. [continues 198 words]
The Liberal government has released its draft legislation for Bill C-45, known in shorthand as the 'Cannabis Act' for legalizing marijuana. And according to Kootenay Outdoor Producers Cooperative co-founder Todd Veri, it's better than just good news for small producers - it's everything they'd hoped for. "Our big concern was that they wouldn't allow outdoor growing or that they'd make life impossible for the co-operative model," says Veri. "Based on the report the government put together last year, we believed the government was going to go in the right direction but might need a nudge from us. It seems they took into account our documentation - we had five or six points we wanted to address and they addressed them all in the draft legislation." [continues 670 words]
Reading the CBC News report, 'Associations call for ban on homegrown weed in BC once it becomes legal,' I have to question the judgment of the Doctors of BC, who default to pharmaceutical drugs quite unquestioningly, yet challenge more natural modes of treatment such as cannabis and homeopathy. Cannabis cannot be tied to a single death or overdose. Meanwhile we are experiencing an opioid crisis. The CDC noted in one report that: "Among the more than 64,000 drug overdose deaths estimated in 2016, the sharpest increase occurred among deaths related to fentanyl and fentanyl analogs (synthetic opioids) with over 20,000 overdose deaths." According to news website Vox, "More Americans died of drug overdoses in 2016 than died in the entirety of the Vietnam War - the result of the US's opioid epidemic." [continues 355 words]
Vancouver comic Mark Hughes interviews fentanyl dealer as part of recently launched podcast Death has been a constant in Kyle's life for 25 years. It's a narrative that goes hand in hand with his lifestyle, and shows no signs of abating. Kyle - not his real name - is a fentanyl dealer. He says he's killed people with his own hands, and by extension, through his line of work. Kyle spoke to Vancouver comedian Mark Hughes as part of Hughes' recently-launched podcast called Pulling the Trigger. The Courier attempted to speak with Kyle, but he declined on more than one occasion. [continues 806 words]
Some cities want to prohibit all recreational marijuana sales; others have already started licensing dispensaries Ottawa's Cannabis Act, Bill C-45, passed third reading in the House of Commons on November 27, little more than seven months before the federal government's July 1, 2018, target date for legalizing recreational marijuana. The bill must be approved by the Senate and achieve Royal Assent but the writing is on the wall that legalization is on the way. The B.C. government has yet to reveal how it plans to regulate retail sales for non-medicinal marijuana. [continues 1445 words]
Packed event featured seven speakers, plenty of questions The fentanyl death toll is rising in B.C., but so is local interest in finding solutions to the crisis. A packed room at the Hume Hotel heard stories and statistics Wednesday evening from a seven-person panel at an event called Growing Hope: A Community Conversation on the Current Fentanyl Crisis, which was put on by Nelson's Fentanyl Task Force. Cheryl Dowden, executive director of ANKORS, co-hosted the evening with Nelson Police Department chief Paul Burkart. The event had been planned to run two hours, but ended up stretching to three as the audience peppered speakers with questions. [continues 600 words]
It's late afternoon and you receive a text message: "Friends coming for dinner. Please pick up wine." You pull into the neighbourhood liquor store, pick up a bottle of your favourite wine and head home. A familiar scene taking place across the province every day. When you go into your local liquor store, you have confidence knowing you're buying a quality product in a secure environment, with stores conveniently located in every community across the province. B.C.'s public and private liquor stores have a proven track record over many decades, selling controlled alcohol products to adults in a responsible manner, with more than a 90 per cent compliance rate in restricting sales to minors. [continues 517 words]
A proven system is already in place, Stephanie Smith and Damian Kettlewell write. It's late afternoon and you receive a text message: "Please pick up wine." You pull into the neighbourhood liquor store, pick up a bottle and head home. A familiar scene taking place across the province every day. When you go into your local liquor store, you know you are buying a quality product in a secure environment, with stores conveniently located across the province. B.C.'s public and private liquor stores have a proven track record selling controlled alcohol products to adults in a responsible manner, with more than a 90 per cent compliance rate in restricting sales to minors. [continues 535 words]
A man has been acquitted after evidence that he had checked in a suitcase containing a large quantity of drugs at Vancouver International Airport was thrown out of court. David Edward Herman checked in two pieces of luggage when he arrived at the airport for a flight to Toronto on March 17, 2013. One of the suitcases passed through security without any incident and was loaded onto the plane but screening of the second suitcase indicated the possible existence of explosives. [continues 220 words]
North Shore residents should be able to buy marijuana in either private or government-run outlets, similar to liquor stores, but there should be strict regulations banning youth under 19 from accessing weed and roadside suspensions for drivers impaired by pot. Local municipalities also want a cut of marijuana revenues to help with enforcement of the rules and a say about where pot shops are set up. Those are some of the messages put forward by all three North Shore municipalities in response to a provincial call for submissions as B.C. considers how legal marijuana will be sold and regulated next year. Those responses received are now posted online by the province. [continues 310 words]
The District of North Vancouver is going to fight another pot shop in the courts. The municipality filed court documents Nov. 15 in B.C. Supreme Court, asking for an order that the owners of Medicinal Mary Jane Iprio Inc. operating at 1488 Pemberton Ave. stop selling marijuana and marijuana products, in contravention of local bylaws. The court documents also ask for an order authorizing police to arrest anyone who contravenes a judge's order in the case. Six people - residents of Vancouver, New Westminster and Richmond who are directors of the company, are named in the lawsuit, along with Orient Holdings Ltd, which owns the property where the marijuana retail shop operates. Legal documents also name the Medicinal Mary-Jane Canada Society and three people who are directors of the society, including Aaron Sinnathamby of Burnaby who is also a director of Medicinal Mary Jane Iprio Inc. [continues 450 words]
Inside British Columbia
