Pubdate: Thu, 22 Dec 2016
Source: Chief, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Whistler Printing & Publishing
Website: http://www.squamishchief.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2414
Author: Jennifer Thuncher

DISPENSARY OWNERS REACT TO FEDERAL PLAN FOR POT LEGALIZATION

A report recommends allowing people to possess up to 30 grams of
marijuana

Squamish marijuana advocates say they are cautiously optimistic about
the federal plan to legalize the drug.

Last week, the Task Force on Cannabis Legalization and Regulation
report to the federal government laid out more than 80 recommendations
that create a framework for legalizing and regulating marijuana for
recreational use.

The report recommends sales should be restricted to those 18 and
older, with a personal possession limit of 30 grams.

It also recommends allowing edibles with restrictions and that
provinces, in collaboration with municipalities, should regulate the
retail sale of cannabis.

Mayor Patricia Heintzman said the District of Squamish will wait to
see what shakes out in terms of the actual regulation when it is
adopted and then, perhaps, adjust district guidelines.

"What we will have to do is look at what the feds will finalize… and
then obviously figure out if we need to tweak any of our bylaws to fit
with the federal regulations," she said.

Council passed zoning and business licence guidelines to allow for
storefront dispensaries in July.

Generally speaking, Heintzman said she liked the direction the report
pointed government, calling the guidelines "intuitive."

Cannabis should not be sold in liquor stores, according to the report,
and it recommends allowing people to grow up to four plants for their
own personal use.

Squamish's Bryan Raiser, owner of 99 North Dispensary, said he found
the recommendations "refreshingly civilized."

"I'm pleased to see them quash the idea of liquor stores as it never
made sense to force a recovering alcoholic to go into a liquor store,"
he said, adding he looks forward to how the provision for marijuana
lounges will play out.

Raiser also said he liked the plan to let people grow their own pot,
though he questioned the limits on amounts it would be legal to grow
and possess.

"I never did like numbers plucked out of the air, which is also why I
take issue with the arbitrary 30-gram carry limit," he said.

"All in all, I remain optimistic, but after sitting through over a
decade of 'committee recommendations' I'm all too aware of how mangled
things can get once it goes through the political and bureaucratic
wringer."

Tania Jackett, who owns Grassroots Dispensary Squamish and is on the
board of directors of Cannabis Growers of Canada, said while the
report "isn't all bad, it's far from perfect."

In particular, Jackett said the Cannabis Growers of Canada cannot
support recommendations to install "seed-to-sale tracking" and "taxing
high-potency cannabis."

"There is still a lot of work to be done to normalize cannabis and
it's various medical and industrial uses," Jackett told The Squamish
Chief.

"Where is the demonstrated harm with cannabis that justifies a strict
'public health and safety' regime? Will cannabis be governed like a
firearm? Will paper criminals risk imprisonment for falling outside
this new system?"

Much is still left to be done before marijuana is fully legalized,
including devising a tax regime for the drug, according to the report.

The federal government estimates it could take two years for all the
details to be ironed out.
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MAP posted-by: Matt