Pubdate: Wed, 28 Jan 2015 Source: Nanaimo Daily News (CN BC) Copyright: 2015 Nanaimo Daily News Contact: http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1608 Author: Robert Barron Page: A3 NEIGHBOURS PAN MEDICAL POT PLAN Group in Yellow Point 'virulently opposed' to application to construct facility on Quennel Road A proposal for a medicinal marijuana operation in Yellow Point is not getting rave reviews from many of its neighbours. The Yellow Point Concerned Citizens group, consisting of neighbours from the area, claim to be "virulently opposed" to an application by Vancouver-based Wildflower Marijuana Inc. to construct and operate a medicinal pot facility on Quennel Road. Spokeswoman Frances Lasser said the group has sent letters to Health Canada, provincial and federal politicians and has received support from the Regional District of Nanaimo in its campaign to halt the project in its tracks. It's not the first time Wildflower has come across local opposition to its plans to establish medicinal marijuana operations in the region. The RDN voted to write a letter to Health Canada, the federal department in charge of regulating the medicinal substance, in December requesting a "thorough" evaluation of traffic, security, water contamination and wastewater issues with these facilities after Wildflower proposed another one for the Deep Bay-Bowser area. Lasser said Yellow Point is a farming community and is not suited for the proposed large-scale industrial facility for the commercial production and sale of medical marijuana. She said the YPCC has "significant concerns" for public health and safety, inadequate water from the aquifer, and waste discharge into the air and ground if the project proceeds. "We also are concerned for the lack of adequate infrastructure, including the single lane Quennel Road, and inadequate fire protection," Lasser said, claiming "at this point, Wildflower has undertaken no public consultation and no environmental impact assessment to identify the impacts that this large scale commercial industrial facility will have on this area." Lasser, who is a nurse, said she is not opposed to medicinal marijuana, but to the location of the proposed project. She said she would likely support the operation if it was established in area like Duke Point, where medical marijuana producer Tilray has been in operation for some time. William MacLean, Wildflower's president and CEO, said it's "unfortunate" that people support the production of medicinal marijuana, but are not in favour of having facilities to grow it set up near them. He said there are no plans at this time to hold public information sessions on its proposal for Yellow Point, but Wildflower might be "willing to do so" if the community requested it. "It should be said that we've received calls from people in that area who support us opening a facility there," MacLean said. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt