Five of the six marijuana dispensaries located in West Kelowna are defying the city's order to shut down. And, as a result, they are each facing hefty fines that, if left unpaid, could result in court action. A week after the deadline the city gave the dispensaries to wrap up their operations in West Kelowna, only one has complied. So the city has started fining the dispensaries $1,000 a day each for contravening city bylaws. According to the city, West Kelowna bylaw officers visited the six dispensaries Nov. 1 and only one said it has stopped dispensing marijuana. [continues 269 words]
Kelowna city staff say cannabis should only be sold from storefront dispensaries licenced by the provincial government and under rules similar to existing liquor stores. And their locations and operations should be controlled by municipal land use zoning and bylaws. Those are the key recommendations in a report to go to city council Monday morning after the province asked municipalities across the B.C. for input about how marijuana and cannabis products should be distributed once the federal government makes them legal next July. [continues 586 words]
West Kelowna's new top cop says marijuana dispensaries are illegal...period. At the request of West Kelowna city staff, West Kelowna's new RCMP detachment commander has clarified the force's position related to marijuana dispensaries. At a meeting with council Friday, a statement from staff-sergeant Lesli Roseberry was presented that indicated marijuana continues to be regulated as a controlled substance under the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, which the RCMP has an obligation to enforce. "The RCMP is responsible for enforcing Canadian laws, as they stand today," said Roseberry in her statement. "Our communities expect that we will take enforcement action to meet this responsibility, and do so in an impartial and professional manner. There is no such thing as having a tolerance for marijuana dispensaries. Simply put, these dispensaries are illegal." [continues 209 words]
A call by supporters of medicinal marijuana dispensaries in Kelowna for city council to come up with its own policies to allow dispensaries to operate here has fallen on deaf ears. Following a small rally by pro-pot supporters Monday afternoon outside city hall, Mayor Colin Basran dismissed the call, saying the issue is one of federal jurisdiction and until Ottawa changes the rules, the city will not issue business licences to dispensaries because they are illegal. "Until the federal government changes the rules, we will be continue to uphold the existing law," said Basran. [continues 586 words]
They likely won't all be approved, but according to Kelowna city staff, there are 15 proposals to build commercial medical marijuana facilities in the city. None have received the much sought after licence required from Health Canada under the new federal rules that went into effect last March. But it is the feds, not the city, that gets the final say on whether those pot plants will be allowed to get up and running here. For the groups that want to start to commercially grow that wacky-tobacci, a trip to city hall will not be enough. [continues 452 words]
As expected, Kelowna city council has made its first move to restrict new federally licensed medical marijuana growing operations to industrial land. Council voted to give initial acceptance to a recommendation from city staff Monday after being told three areas of industrial land - those zoned for general industrial (I-2 zone), heavy industrial (I-3 zone) and central industrial (I-4 zone)-are more suitable for the type of operations Ottawa is now licensing than farmland would be. City staff said they considered allowing the new operations in the I-1 zone but felt that could create too many conflicts as the I-1 zones allows for light industrial that is often located too close to residential areas. [continues 481 words]
There may be enough people in Premier Christy Clark's Westside-Kelowna riding who want a vote on easing police enforcement of marijuana possession laws in B.C., but the same can't be said for the other two Central Okanagan provincial ridings. As the clock ticked down to Sensible BC's self-imposed deadline of 5 p.m. Wednesday to gather signatures of 10 per cent of all eligible voters in Kelowna-Lake Country and Kelowna-Mission, it appeared clear the attempt to force a referendum on the issue would fail. [continues 372 words]
Pot proponent Dana Larsen says he hopes Premier Christy Clark, as someone who has all but admitted smoking marijuana in the past, will heed the wishes of her constituents who have signed his group's petition calling for a change to marijuana laws in B.C. Larsen was handed the petition from Clark's Westside-Kelowna riding Thursday afternoon at a news conference downtown. More than 4,600 signatures on it, more than the 10 per cent of registered voters signatures required as part of a provincial campaign to force a referendum on the issue of police enforcement of BC pot possession laws. [continues 477 words]
The call for legalization-or at least decriminalization-of marijuana in B.C. is getting louder. Recently eight B.C. mayors-including James Baker of Lake Country, Robert Sawatzky of Vernon, Chris Pieper of Armstrong, Howie Cyr of Enderby, John Ranns of Metchosin on Vancouver Island, Darrell Mussamotto of the City of North Vancouver, Burnaby's Derek Corrigan and Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson-released a letter they had all signed calling on Victoria to tax and regulate the drug as a way to stop gang violence in this province and help make communities safer. [continues 385 words]
Kelowna's mayor says he was at the meeting in which several Okanagan mayors were asked to sign a letter supporting the decriminalization of marijuana. But unlike his Lake Country, Enderby, Armstrong and Vernon counterparts, Walter Gray declined, offering instead to petition the Union of B.C. Municipalities to include Stop The Violence B.C. in a forum at its annual convention in September to "start a national dialogue" on the issue. "We were all asked to sign on but I felt it was a big leap for a (newly elected) mayor to make at that time," Gray said Monday. [continues 564 words]
A crowd of about 100 people turned out in Kelowna Wednesday night to voice their opposition to the federal government's omnibus crime bill. But it was not just the Conservative's plan to get tough on crime that came in for criticism. Kelowna-Lake Country Tory MP Ron Cannan -- a conspicuous no-show -- was also targeted by the clearly anti-crime bill crowd. Several audience members expressed anger that Cannan refused to show up to defend the government's plan, a bill that combines nine previously unsuccessful separate crime-related bills into one. The Tories could not get them passed through the House of Commons because it did not have a majority. [continues 507 words]
Interior Health's Kelowna medical health officer is one of more than 550 health professionals from across Canada who are publicly opposing the federal government's latest attempt to introduce mandatory minimum prison sentences for drug offences. Dr. Paul Hasselback has joined physicians, researchers and scientists from across the country in opposing Bill S-10, which was introduced by the minority Conservative government in Ottawa Monday. The opposition, led by the Urban Health Research Initiative, a program of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, argues there is "significant" evidence to show that the Tories tough on crime approach will not meaningfully reduce violence or drug use or improve public health and safety. Instead, say the health professionals, it will only serve to waste taxpayers' dollars. [continues 474 words]
Incumbent Okanagan-Coquihalla MP Stockwell Day may have ridden into the pages of Canadian political history on a jet-ski, but in the next federal election he will likely be challenged by the guy who won the first-ever Olympic snowboarding gold medal for Canada. Ross Rebagliati has announced he will seek the federal Liberal nomination in Okanagan-Coquihalla riding, and it appears he will be the only candidate running at Monday's nomination meeting. "It's not as strange as it might appear," said the 38-year-old of his move from 1998 Olympic snowboarding champion to aspiring federal politician. [continues 682 words]
Almost half way through the federal election campaign and it seems missteps, from both the past and present, are the defining features of this campaign so far. The party leaders may be intent on talking policy, but it seems some of their candidates can't help but shift the spotlight with their shenanigans. While the Tories and their aides tend to put their feet squarely in their mouths, the NDP have candidates-or should I say had candidates- whose pasts are now catching up with them. [continues 481 words]
For the Kelowna RCMP, the link between marijuana and organized crime is clear. And to break that link, local police are setting their sights on area marijuana growing operations at every level. To help them do that, police officers are asking the public for tips about any marijuana growing operations they suspect in the Central Okanagan. "These grows are clearly a threat to society," said Kelowna RCMP Const. Annie Linteau. "Organized crime knows no boundaries." And she is urging members of the public to use the anonymous Crime Stoppers tip line if they are concerned about their safety in relaying information to the police. [continues 202 words]
A major study currently being conducted in the Central Okanagan and looking at the behaviour of teens has found that while young people here are experimenting with drugs, alcohol and other "risky" activities, they are not doing more than other North American kids. The study, led by Okanagan University College professor Marvin Kranke, released its initial findings yesterday. "The levels of risk-taking by young teens may surprise some people in our region," said Kranke. "But they are much the same as those in other areas of Canada and the U.S." [continues 798 words]
A recommendation by a House of Commons committee that possession of up to 30 grams of marijuana land the owner a small fine and not a criminal record, is being opposed by Kelowna MP Werner Schmidt. But Schmidt, the chairman of the Canadian Alliance caucus, said while he personally opposes the decriminalization of any amount of marijuana, he will support his party's view that possession of up to five grams be dealt with by a fine and not a criminal record. [continues 203 words]
Kelowna's director of planning didn't like the idea of a bylaw that would fine owners of rental property where drug growing operations are found before he saw what the Vancouver suburb of Surrey is doing. Now that he has read the Surrey bylaw, Ron Mattiussi is even more opposed to it. Mattiussi said it appears the Surrey bylaw is a way for the police and fire department to use the powers of the provincial Local Government Act to get into houses without prior court approval. [continues 281 words]
Kelowna's mayor may like the idea of a bylaw to fine landlords for the actions of their pot-growing tenants, but the city's director of planning is not so sure. Ron Mattiussi, who oversees the department that would have to enforce such a bylaw, said making a bylaw to target landlords could be difficult. "We will definitely explore what is being proposed, but any time you're trying to hold a third party liable, it's a little dicey," said Mattiussi."Speaking off the top of my head, I don't know if it's legal." [continues 232 words]
Kelowna's mayor says he's intrigued by a Surrey bylaw that slap landlords with fines of up to $7,500 for pot busts on property they rent out. And Walter Gray wants his city's staff to look at the possibility of introducing a similar bylaw here. "I'm quite intrigued by it," Gray told the Capital News Tuesday. "I think Surrey may be onto a good idea." Fed up with paying hundreds of thousand of dollars each year to have the RCMP in Surrey bust home marijuana growing operations, councillors in the Vancouver suburb recently passed the bylaw, calling it a toll to deal with illegal drugs. [continues 313 words]
