If someone had told us a decade ago that municipalities would be trying to figure out where and how to fit medical marijuana companies into their planning manuals today - well, we would have told them they must be smoking something. But, as reported recently in this paper, companies like Vancouver MediCann are trying to figure out exactly where and how they can fit into municipal boundaries and plans and make it all work.
As of April 1, the old federal marijuana medical access regulations under Health Canada are changing. Currently, private citizens are allowed to produce medical pot for personal use on a limited scale. The new rules move the production out of backyards and residential areas and into large-scale manufacturing facilities. This is mostly good. Burnaby, as other municipalities are, is working out the kinks in the system. It is putting together new bylaw provisions that would require an applicant to obtain council approval through the rezoning process, with a required public hearing.
This is also good.
The arguments over the worth of medical marijuana are largely over, and its value is now recognized. Does that mean that we won't hear about users who may abuse the new system and service? No, we're sure there'll be instances and stories about folks misusing the service. There were in the current system. As in most things, there will be people who try to take advantage of loopholes and profit on other people's needs.
But this is a much-needed step forward.
For now many of the new companies are local start-ups with local owners. Let's hope it stays that way.
