COUNCIL MAKES STRAHL CALL

The City of Chilliwack can't get Health Canada to respond to questions
about the federal medical marijuana program so they'll try the local
MP.

City council endorsed a resolution at its last meeting to invite
Chiliwack-Fraser Canyon MP Chuck Strahl to address the Public Safety
Advisory Committee (PSAC) with respect to the licensing and monitoring
of medical marijuana grow operations.

Mayor Sharon Gaetz said the city is concerned about electricity use,
water issues, disposal of fertilizers, fire danger and theft. Gaetz
wants the city to restrict the activity using zoning bylaws.

At its Dec. 6 meeting, council endorsed a recommendation "that city
staff explore the development of a bylaw regarding medicinal marijuana
grow operations that would include zoning restrictions."

The recommendation came out of a PSAC meeting during which a bylaw
banning medical marijuana in Pitt Meadows was discussed.

According to Coun. Chuck Stam, the mayor tried to arrange a meeting
with the minister of health in the spring, leading up to the
Federation of Canadian Municipalities meeting "to no avail."

"They wouldn't even send a representative to the committee," Stam told
the Times. "So when that news got back we said, 'We have an MP that
represents us in Ottawa and we need to sit down, not to criticize or
chew him out, to sit down and share experiences.' "

The Times asked Health Canada whether or not a municipality had the
jurisdiction to regulate zoning for federally licensed medical
marijuana growers, but no direct response was received.

"Health Canada is not involved in the creation of such laws and bylaws
by other jurisdictions (provinces, territories, municipalities)," a
media relations official wrote via e-mail.

"Health Canada is currently considering longer-term measures to reform
the Marihuana Medical Access Program and its regulations. In its
considerations, the department is focusing on three key objectives:
public health, safety and security. . . . Any changes to the program
will balance the need to provide legal access to this controlled
substance with the government's responsibility to regulate it."

Any review of the medical marijuana program by Health Canada came as
news to Stam.

"That's the first I've heard of that," he said, adding, "That's
refreshing."

Stam said a meeting with Strahl and PSAC was likely to take place in
January some time.

Pitt Meadows council passed a land use bylaw amendment that outlawed
grow operations as home-based businesses in any city zone nor as
agricultural operations. The bylaw applies to those with Health Canada
licences to grow for other people.

But both the existing Pitt Meadows bylaw and anything on Chilliwack's
horizon will likely face constitutional challenges, according to a
Vancouver marijuana anti-prohibition organization.

Jacob Hunter of the Beyond Prohibition Foundation said if the City of
Chilliwack follows the path of Pitt Meadows "it is exposing itself to
significant court costs."