Pubdate: Sat, 25 Oct 2014
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2014 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Kelly Sinoski
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal - Canada)

DIRECTORS REJECT 'POT BUNKERS' ON FARMLAND

Richmond and Delta Lead Charge Against Facilities

Metro Vancouver directors will back a B. C.- wide ban against medical
marijuana production on agricultural land, saying the concrete bunkers
will swallow up the region's valuable farmland.

Friday's decision, led by directors in the farming communities of
Richmond and Delta, comes in response to the B. C. government's latest
proposed bylaw standards on medical marijuana production facilities in
the Agricultural Land Reserve.

The B. C. government has stipulated that medical pot facilities will
not be allowed to claim farm-tax status, but have a constitutional
right to be on agricultural land.

Metro has until this Sunday to respond to the proposed standards,
which are slated to be pushed through by December.

"Marijuana is not going to be grown in an agricultural field, it will
be grown in big concrete bunkers," Delta Mayor Lois Jackson said
Friday. "You have to have a concrete floor, which means you'll never
get that agricultural land back if you need it. We should save the
farmland for soil-based crops and put bunkers in industrial areas."

Medical marijuana production has become a huge issue in the region,
following a decision by Health Canada last year that requires medical
pot be grown and distributed by commercial facilities.

Medical marijuana patients had previously been licensed to grow their
own product, have someone grow it for them or buy it. At the moment
they are still allowed to do so after being granted an injunction
until a case against Health Canada's plan is heard in Federal Court.

The changes have caused a rift among B. C. municipalities, many of
which see medical marijuana as a pharmaceutical that should be grown
in industrial areas, while others, like Maple Ridge, say it should be
grown on agricultural land.

Vancouver Coun. Andrea Reimer, who along with her fellow councilors
voted against the Metro decision Friday, said she doesn't see it as a
huge regional matter and said it would impinge on local autonomy as to
where the facilities are located.

But others say they are concerned not only about the loss of farmland
but of increasing resources of police and fire to deal with the facilities.

Richmond Coun. Harold Steves said farmland is already being eaten up
by large homes, wineries and breweries. "We're facing a real raid on
our agricultural land," he said. "Pot bunkers are not
agricultural."

Langley Township Mayor Jack Froese said there's a difference to
growing hops for beer or grapes for wine and growing a pharmaceutical.
Having a B. C.- based support group, he said, would encourage more
regulation around its production.
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MAP posted-by: Richard