City to react quickly should court decision allow resumption of home grown medicinal marijuana production
KELOWNA – The City of Kelowna will likely react quickly if Health Canada loses a Supreme Court challenge in late February and home-growing medical marijuana producers are allowed to resume production.
“We have to wait and see but if it means we have to jump in with extra regulations and inspections, we would do that,” said Ryan Smith, the city’s urban planning manager. “We want to get ahead of what’s coming. This concerns us from a lot of perspectives.”
Health Canada introduced the Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulation April 1 ,2014, replacing the previous set of rules, the Medical Marijuana Access Regulation which had allowed home production for qualified license and prescription holders.
Critics of the MMAR decried its lack of controls with police alleging the program had been infiltrated by organized crime while municipalities across Canada complained they had no inspection and licensing control over what amounted to industrial operations mounted in residential locations.
The new regime has confined marijuana production to large-scale industrial production facilities, outlawing home growing and requiring patients to buy their prescriptions from one of the commercial operators.
However a group of patients, represented by activist attorney John Conroy from Abbottsford, challenged Health Canada’s changes, receiving an injunction just days before the program was scheduled to end last year.
This has left the program in legal limbo, with Health Canada moving ahead with its commercial program, while reports are that many of the home-growers have continued to operate, or resumed operation, while awaiting the court decision. Smith could not provide a firm estimate of how many MMAR licensed growers had previously operated in the city.
Conversely, if the injunction is dismissed and Health Canada’s MMPR becomes the new protocol, Smith said the city would try to find a way of ensuring all the previously licensed home production sites had been properly decomissioned. “I think both Health Canada and the municipality have to partner on this issue,” he added.
To contact the reporter for this story, email John McDonald at jmcdonald@infotelnews.ca or call 250-808-0143. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
6 responses
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Right on Joe. I was the former Executive Director and founding member of the MMAR Coalition against Repeal which hired Conroy to file this Charter action. If we are successful and win in court then Kelowna and all other municipalities will just have to deal with it. The evidence for court clearly deals with ALL the false flags thrown out there, such as mold, fires, and organized crime.
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Oh, and one more silly point… “Conversely, if the injunction is dismissed and Health Canada’s MMPR becomes the new protocol, Smith said the city would try to find a way of ensuring all the previously licensed home production sites had been properly decomissioned.” ~ ‘properly decomissioned’? That is our existing CHARTER protections being fought for in court in February – that be (again) 35,000,000 Canadian’s Chartered protections being defended… Any so-called ‘decommissioning’ would be of our Charter, not our gardens… Mr. McDonald, please weigh-in on the MMAR Coalition’s epic Supreme Court battle which will be dealing with this fundamental issue once-&-for-all, but AWARENESS of the Charter’s being wholly assaulted under the guise of a few ‘sick, dying & marginalized’ Cannabis patients is such a disservice to the Canadian public it is painful to read.This involves EVERY CANADIAN here & now…. Cannabis is a simple & extremely affordable personal plant to grow for one’s own health & dietary requirements, SPECIALLY as a PREVENTATIVE measure.Get THIS information out there fast & loud so more Canadians actually understand what THIS MMPR racket is all about before our rights to grow our own peas, carrots, celery, herbs & lettuce, not to mention Cannabis, is literally YANKED from our hands.I trust nobody more than myself to grow my food & medicine.That is step one.
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Oh, and one more silly point… “Conversely, if the injunction is dismissed and Health Canada’s MMPR becomes the new protocol, Smith said the city would try to find a way of ensuring all the previously licensed home production sites had been properly decomissioned.” ~ ‘properly decomissioned’? That is our existing CHARTER protections being fought for in court in February – that be (again) 35,000,000 Canadian’s Chartered protections being defended… Any so-called ‘decommissioning’ would be of our Charter, not our gardens… Mr. McDonald, please weigh-in on the MMAR Coalition’s epic Supreme Court battle which will be dealing with this fundamental issue once-&-for-all, but AWARENESS of the Charter’s being wholly assaulted under the guise of a few ‘sick, dying & marginalized’ Cannabis patients is such a disservice to the Canadian public it is painful to read.This involves EVERY CANADIAN here & now…. Cannabis is a simple & extremely affordable personal plant to grow for one’s own health & dietary requirements, SPECIALLY as a PREVENTATIVE measure.Get THIS information out there fast & loud so more Canadians actually understand what THIS MMPR racket is all about before our rights to grow our own peas, carrots, celery, herbs & lettuce, not to mention Cannabis, is literally YANKED from our hands.
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“However a group of patients,….challenged Health Canada’s changes, receiving an injunction just days before the program was scheduled to end last year.”Uhm, this ‘group of patients’ represents 35,000,000 CANADIANS, btw, as we ALL share the SAME Chartered protections & freedoms… This is a fight to save 35,000,000 Canadian’s backyard & indoor gardens – that includes all foodstuff and NOT JUST these measly 40,000 Cannabis cultivators & possession license holders..What a sham this federal trolling gang is trying to pull over ALL Canadian’s eyes on this one – I guess it’s not to moot a point to also mention that Haarper & Health Canada along with their corporate commercial grow racket tried to pull this Big Lie off on non-other than APRIL FOOL’s DAY 2014.As for this big fiasco & fear mongering about mold, mildew & organized crime, this has ALL been squashed ALREADY in the courts, so by the time Cannabis is rescheduled PROPERLY as a food stuff & NOT a ‘narcotic’, this plant can again return where it belongs unhindered…. in our backyard gardens & farmer’s fields abound, making Canada a very rich & healthy country industrially as well as personal health & environmental responsibilities are concerned..Enough of this lie & treasonous propagated prohibition & the illegal, illicit laws that are presently fooling us all into sickness & disease for too long now.Preventative daily dietary regimen & renewable natural resource that has near infinite applications, all from a simple ditch weed that has been around since mankind…. and earlier, suddenly becomes a ‘threat’ to profits & monopolies – NOT humans.The BIGGEST threat has been the removal of Cannabis from our gardens.Be fooled no longer.. we have our health to protect along with our environment… and to boot, we save our economy & put Canada ahead of the world.. Do this right the 1st time here & now & LET THE PLANT GO.Next..
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