Pubdate: Wed, 29 Mar 2017
Source: Maple Ridge News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2017 Maple Ridge News
Contact:  http://www.mapleridgenews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1328
Author: Phil Melnychuk
Page: A1

'CONSULT CITIES ON CANNABIS'

'Other provinces could get a head start'

Reports the federal government is soon to release its laws on
recreational pot has the NDP's Mike Farnworth awaiting the provincial
response.

"So far, we've not seen any work on this by the provincial
government," said Farnworth, who's seeking re-election in Port Coquitlam.

Last year, Farnworth, along with MLA Carole James, visited Washington,
which legalized recreational marijuana in 2012, and Oregon, to learn
about some of the issues.

"How are they going to do the licensing? What type of edibles can be
sold? What's the tax level going to look like?"

If marijuana sales taxes are too high, that could allow the black
market to continue, said Farnworth.

The key point is that the rules have to be in place before marijuana
is legalized, he added.

The CBC said this week the federal government will bring in
legislation in a few weeks, which is expected to follow ideas laid out
by a federal task force last year.

Farnworth said cities should be consulted, such as whether they'll be
allowed to limit the number of shops that sell recreation pot.

"Those are all crucial questions, and yet nothing's
happened."

Testing for quality control is crucial, he added.

Brett Steves, with the Hammond Compassion Society, which opened on
Maple Crescent two years ago to dispense medicinal marijuana, agrees
with Farnworth that the regulations have to be in place before
recreational pot is legalized.

"At the end of the day, it will boil down to what the federal
government wants to do," while giving the provinces responsibility for
setting retail rules. He said liquor control boards could simply
manage recreational pot retailing.

If medical marijuana dispensaries are allowed to transition to selling
recreational marijuana, he'd also make that change.

But Hammond Compassion Society has already 9,600 members.

"We've got every kind of illness that you can possibly think of
walking through the door, looking for an alternative to opiates."

Dan Sutton, with Tantalus Labs, which has built a medical marijuana
greenhouse in east Maple Ridge on 272nd Street, is also waiting for
provincial response.

He said B.C. could lose jobs and money if other provinces get a head
start on serving the recreational marijuana market.

"I think it's not right that ahead of the B.C. election, we haven't
had any insight about the Liberal, NDP or Green party plan for
legalized cannabis distribution in this province … to date."

Tantalus is still waiting for its licence from Health Canada to
produce medicinal marijuana.

Sutton says the provincial government should create a task force of
industry and policy experts to formulate B.C. policies on recreational
pot.

"B.C. may watch a multi-billion industry slip through its
fingers."

Ottawa's legislation is supposed to allow the provinces to set retail
regulations while allowing individuals to grow up to four plants themselves.

Sutton added that Health Minister Jane Philpot has said that health
and safety standards for recreational marijuana will be federally
regulated and mirror those for medical marijuana.

That's got potential medicinal marijuana producers thinking
big.

"What most industry insiders are interpreting is that licenced
[medical] producers will become the producers for recreational,
adult-use … cannabis."

Any company that wants to produce recreational pot would then have to
follow those standards.

With recreational pot legalized, the market could grow 100 times,
Sutton said.

"We'll be able to do it," he added.

Tantalus's greenhouse production system makes it the largest possible
marijuana producer in B.C., he said.

Sutton also said age verification will be critical, as will supply
train transparency and security when it comes to legalization.

Maple Ridge Coun. Craig Speirs said there should be room for pot
producers on the craft scale and suggested the province form something
similar to the Vintner's Quality Alliance, which certifies that
certain wines meet particular standards.

He also favours allowing the dispensaries that are now selling medical
marijuana to sell recreational pot.

"The dispensaries that we have today have no problem servicing the
market and I haven't heard any complaints."

But large licenced producers need access to storefronts, as
well.

Testing and quality control remain major issues. Spears would like the
minimum age for buying pot to be 19, the same age as for buying alcohol.

Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Liberal MLA Doug Bing said it's the first
he's heard of the issue and it will be difficult to get a government
response during the middle of the election.

Ottawa has pledged to introduce legislation to legalize pot this
spring. In December, a federal task force recommended selling
marijuana via mail or in storefronts, separate from tobacco and
alcohol, to Canadians 18 years and older. The task force recommended a
growing limit of four plants per person.

"We're changing the current criminal prohibition to a system of strict
regulations," former Toronto police chief and current justice
parliamentary secretary Bill Blair, said last month.
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MAP posted-by: Matt