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Vancouver looks to Washington, Colorado as it becomes first to regulate marijuana stores

April 22nd, 2015 · 6 Comments

Gotta say, I still don’t understand what just happened.

There were increasing complaints from the public every month since federal law on medical marijuana changed last April and marijuana dispensaries suddenly bloomed like a thousand flowers in Vancouver. City types kept saying there was nothing they could do because the federal law had created a gray area.

But today, it appears there is something they can do. To wit: charge dispensaries $30,000 for a permit, make them get a business licence and a development permit, tell them they can’t be within 300 metres of a school, community centre, neighbourhood house or other marijuana business, forbid them from selling edible marijuana stuff, and more.

The city report is here. Next week, council will vote on whether to send it to a public hearing. No speakers allowed at that decision point, folks, but you can all line up for the public hearing, which I suspect will be scheduled faster than a Wall Development rezoning.

In the meantime, great fun to be had getting the kinds of quotes one can only get in Vancouver about this kind of thing. My favourite, to date, from Kerry Jang in my Globe story: “We have more of these shops than Tim Hortons.” I haven’t had a chance to check other people’s stuff yet, but I bet it’s rich.

Categories: Uncategorized

  • Salvaich

    Better real regulation than token regulation.
    -30-

  • peakie

    Hmm. Broken link to City report.

    http://francesbula.com/ormer.vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/20150428/documents/rr1.pdf

    Though that is obviously http://former etc.

    I see that Chad Skelton, of the Vancouver Sun has already done a quick map of which are ‘too close’ (300 m.) to schools.

    I know of one of his too-close-to-schools is also next to a brothel and across street from a new converted hotel for the homeless (often addicted) and “too close” to a MacDonalds!

    The only medical references are in the

    Strategic Analysis

    The number of marijuana-related business suggests a significant demand for marijuana-related services in numerous areas of the city. This may be due to various studies that have found that marijuana provides health benefits including relief from chronic pain1 2, mitigation of antiretroviral therapy-related nausea3, benefits to those suffering from multiple sclerosis4, and to control symptoms of bipolar disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder5.

    Some studies also attest to the efficacy of marijuana as a form of harm reduction:

    i. as a substitute for more harmful drugs (e.g. alcohol, tobacco, prescription opiates and some illegal drugs such as heroin or cocaine)6 7;

    ii. as a means to reduce the rates of opioid overdose deaths and opioid-related morbidity8

    iii. to relieve withdrawal symptoms during detox and to increase retention rates during treatment9 10.

    Marijuana-related uses have also generated some concerns:

    1. Studies on marijuana use have linked its use to health harms such as impairment of memory (in adolescents) and psychomotor performance; schizophrenia; cancer of mouth, jaw, tongue and lung (in younger people); fetotoxicity; and leukemia in children11 12.

    2. The VPD has expressed concern about crime in, or targeted at, marijuana-related uses in Vancouver.
    [ more ]

    No credits for the various cut-and-pastes from various officials, or did Dr. Ballem write everything herself?

    I would have like to see some reviews (12821 references easily found on PubMed) for both the cannaboids (the chemical) and marijuana (the plant) and effects. There are 1482 ‘reviews’ and 27 Cochrane reviews.

    This is dangerous stuff, with consequences.

    No mention was made of the Denver study that thousands of “homeless” moved to Colorado because the drug was “cheaper and available” for the poor.

    …officials at homeless centers say the influx they are seeing is straining their ability to meet the needs of the increasing population.
    “The older ones are coming for medical (marijuana), the younger ones are coming just because it’s legal,” said Brett Van Sickle, director of Denver’s Salvation Army Crossroads Shelter, which has more than doubled its staff to accommodate the increase.
    The shelter did an informal survey of the roughly 500 new out-of-towners who stayed there between July and September and found as many as 30 percent had relocated for pot, he said.
    The city is eager to see the results of a study by Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Criminal Justice and Criminology Department of issues related to legal marijuana, including any correlation between legal marijuana and rates of homelessness.

    …The Denver area is seeing younger homeless people, too.
    Urban Peak, which provides services for those ages 15 to 25, says it saw 829 people between May and July at its drop-in center, up from 328 during the same time period a year earlier.
    About a third of this year’s newcomers cited legal weed as a factor in moving to Colorado, said Kim Easton, the director.

  • Internet made me obsolete

    “Token regulation”. Heehee.

  • Lysenko’s Nemesis

    He smiled and coughed, in muffled way.

    And now, Vancouver goes higher. The Parks Board approves a zip-line in Queen Elizabeth Park. It’s business. But they rejected an elegant tower.

    https://pricetags.wordpress.com/2007/11/11/henriquezs-tower/

  • Norman12

    I have to wonder how these shops are financed and where they get their product. I hear that street-level pot dealing has pretty well disappeared because it’s more convenient to get a “prescription” (some of these stores require none) and start shopping. What a gift to the boys on motorcycles.

  • peakie

    Mayor’s pot plan: License the `good actors,’ crack down on violators
    By Evan Bush Seattle Times staff reporter
    http://old.seattletimes.com/text/2026388726.html
    Tuesday, May 26, 2015 – Page updated at 03:30 p.m.

    Mayor Ed Murray will propose legislation this afternoon that could shut down more than 50 medical-marijuana dispensaries and give the city a tighter grip on the rest of Seattle’s pot industry.

    ….The mayor’s plan follows state lawmakers’ effort to fold medical marijuana into the state’s recreational system. The new state law, approved last month, calls for the Liquor Control Board (which will be renamed the Liquor and Cannabis Board) to assess the merit of medical-marijuana businesses and license those that qualify by July 2016.

    “Some stores are selling without medical authorizations,” said Mendoza. “We’re building cases against them.”

    The city also listed second- and third-tier considerations that risk enforcement. Those include medical-marijuana delivery, violations of city fire and building codes, allowing on-site pot consumption, not testing marijuana sold to patients and being located within 1,000 feet (300 m.) of a school or playground or within 500 feet (150 m.) of another marijuana store or dispensary.

    Businesses can appeal violations assessed by the city and contest suspensions or revocations of their license. [7]The Office of the Hearing Examiner, an independent body, will handle those cases.

    The mayor’s office estimates the legislation will cost more than $800,000 to implement, not including costs to the city’s law department or Seattle Fire Department…..

    No mention that there is no clinical evidence for
    “medical marijuana” in studies and reviews.