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City of Powell River mayor and council voted unanimously last week in support of a motion that would allow the city to take advantage of new rules around medical marijuana and step in at the ground level.
Councillor Debbie Dee introduced the motion to the special council meeting on Thursday, July 18, after council heard staff's report on the city growing and researching medical marijuana and industrial hemp.
"This is not about decriminalization of marijuana," said Mac Fraser, chief administrative officer. "It's putting [medical marijuana] into a regulatory and law-enforcement scheme."
Dee and Mayor Dave Formosa spoke about the opportunity for increasing the city's tax base by taking advantage of the changes to the federal program at a committee-of-the-whole meeting, Thursday, June 20.
Councillor Chris McNaughton, who voted against the decriminalization of marijuana at last year's Union of BC Municipalities conference in Victoria, said he is in favour of the changes to the medical marijuana program in Canada.
"This I see is a very important opportunity for the community and the country," he said.
The federal government's new regulations for medical marijuana, which take effect in 2014, will create conditions for a new, commercial industry responsible for its own production and distribution. Patients will be allowed to buy prescribed amounts only from licensed producers approved by Health Canada. The federal government will no longer produce or distribute medical marijuana and users will no longer be allowed to grow the plant at home.
"From a safety point of view the original medical marijuana plan was a disaster," said Councillor Maggie Hathaway. "There were all kinds of safety issues and lack of reporting. I'm happy to proceed down this road and see what we can do to help improve the situation."
With the original medical marijuana plan, introduced in 2001, less than 500 growers were initially registered to participate, but over the last 12 years that number has increased to over 30,000. As the number of growers has increased, so has the cost to Heath Canada.
Councillor Jim Palm commented that he is also in favour of the changes federally as there is "need of regulations to be put in place to control this proliferation."
Formosa reported that he conducted his own informal poll of city residents on the issue and found that a majority of those he spoke to supported the idea of medical marijuana and industrial hemp being grown in the city.
Formosa said he was asked about the potential impact that legalizing marijuana could have on operations. "If companies or the city is vested in this industry and they legalize it, it's no different than when they legalized alcohol," he said. "They're still going to have to have someone to produce and sell it and the government's going to want their tax. So I don't see the industry going away, but actually growing."
Dr. Paul Martiquet is medical health officer for rural Vancouver Coastal Health including Powell River, the Sunshine Coast, Sea-to-Sky, Bella Bella and Bella Coola.
"If Powell River can supply the medical needs of its residents with its own medical grade marijuana that's something that I would support," he said.
He and other medical health officers around the province have advocated changing the federal government's approach from prohibition to looking at the problem as a public health issue that emphasizes harm reduction, prevention and education.
Although Martiquet was unable to provide precise statistics on medical marijuana prescriptions, he did comment that he thought it was "common," and that medical marijuana had the support of national and provincial medical associations.
He did caution that smoking anything was not without risks and suggested that using a vaporizer was a safer approach to taking medical marijuana. "The main concern around marijuana and smoking anything is that you're not just inhaling the active ingredients, the THC [Tetrahydrocannabinol], but also a lot of other carcinogens."
News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: prpeak.com
Author: Chris Bolster
Contact: The Powell River Peak > Our Newspaper
Website: The Powell River Peak > Archives > News > Council gives okay to medical pot
Councillor Debbie Dee introduced the motion to the special council meeting on Thursday, July 18, after council heard staff's report on the city growing and researching medical marijuana and industrial hemp.
"This is not about decriminalization of marijuana," said Mac Fraser, chief administrative officer. "It's putting [medical marijuana] into a regulatory and law-enforcement scheme."
Dee and Mayor Dave Formosa spoke about the opportunity for increasing the city's tax base by taking advantage of the changes to the federal program at a committee-of-the-whole meeting, Thursday, June 20.
Councillor Chris McNaughton, who voted against the decriminalization of marijuana at last year's Union of BC Municipalities conference in Victoria, said he is in favour of the changes to the medical marijuana program in Canada.
"This I see is a very important opportunity for the community and the country," he said.
The federal government's new regulations for medical marijuana, which take effect in 2014, will create conditions for a new, commercial industry responsible for its own production and distribution. Patients will be allowed to buy prescribed amounts only from licensed producers approved by Health Canada. The federal government will no longer produce or distribute medical marijuana and users will no longer be allowed to grow the plant at home.
"From a safety point of view the original medical marijuana plan was a disaster," said Councillor Maggie Hathaway. "There were all kinds of safety issues and lack of reporting. I'm happy to proceed down this road and see what we can do to help improve the situation."
With the original medical marijuana plan, introduced in 2001, less than 500 growers were initially registered to participate, but over the last 12 years that number has increased to over 30,000. As the number of growers has increased, so has the cost to Heath Canada.
Councillor Jim Palm commented that he is also in favour of the changes federally as there is "need of regulations to be put in place to control this proliferation."
Formosa reported that he conducted his own informal poll of city residents on the issue and found that a majority of those he spoke to supported the idea of medical marijuana and industrial hemp being grown in the city.
Formosa said he was asked about the potential impact that legalizing marijuana could have on operations. "If companies or the city is vested in this industry and they legalize it, it's no different than when they legalized alcohol," he said. "They're still going to have to have someone to produce and sell it and the government's going to want their tax. So I don't see the industry going away, but actually growing."
Dr. Paul Martiquet is medical health officer for rural Vancouver Coastal Health including Powell River, the Sunshine Coast, Sea-to-Sky, Bella Bella and Bella Coola.
"If Powell River can supply the medical needs of its residents with its own medical grade marijuana that's something that I would support," he said.
He and other medical health officers around the province have advocated changing the federal government's approach from prohibition to looking at the problem as a public health issue that emphasizes harm reduction, prevention and education.
Although Martiquet was unable to provide precise statistics on medical marijuana prescriptions, he did comment that he thought it was "common," and that medical marijuana had the support of national and provincial medical associations.
He did caution that smoking anything was not without risks and suggested that using a vaporizer was a safer approach to taking medical marijuana. "The main concern around marijuana and smoking anything is that you're not just inhaling the active ingredients, the THC [Tetrahydrocannabinol], but also a lot of other carcinogens."
News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: prpeak.com
Author: Chris Bolster
Contact: The Powell River Peak > Our Newspaper
Website: The Powell River Peak > Archives > News > Council gives okay to medical pot
