After decades of sniggers about it being “high time” to legalize marijuana, and winks about 4/20 celebrations, the world of weed is ditching the jokes about reefer madness and going mainstream.
Last week, the province announced its long-awaited regulations on where and how legalized pot will be sold – in a manner similar to alcohol sales.
B.C.’s approach to the issue seems prudent to most observers and is based on some of the lessons learned in other jurisdictions. Marijuana will be legal, but it won’t be a total free-for-all.
Much to the relief of local politicians, municipalities will have a big say about who gets one of the coveted provincial pot shop licences.
That means those operators who have been the subject of court action, or who’ve caused major headaches where they’ve set up in advance of the legal starting line, might not be at the front of the line.
A number of regulations also set out fairly strict oversight on who’s allowed to be involved in the pot business, with the goal of keeping out organized crime. Key to that, however, will be enforcement.
The issue of criminals using legal “fronts” for a licence has already been raised as a concern.
If the province’s ability to keep criminals out of casinos or to enforce rules around proxies in the real estate industry is any indication, we have reasons to be wary.
And, of course, there is no way to know with any precision what, if any, impact legalizing pot will have on local policing resources.
Will the RCMP be inundated with calls about pot-smoking in public? Will driving under the influence of pot add another level of concern for the public’s safety?
Next door, the City of New Westminster is already developing a thoughtful five-point plan anticipating the legalization. New West is also providing opportunities for public input and dialogue.
In Burnaby, there doesn’t appear to be any move to gather general public input, but the city is anticipating treating the new pot situation akin to the way it has dealt with liquor sales. That said, the road ahead is sure to be bumpy.
Throwing another mood-altering substance into the public mix will certainly have impacts that we are not prepared for.
But if we acknowledge that any plan we have now may need to be changed down the line, maybe we can all breathe a little easier.
