CITY NIPPING IT IN THE BUD

Mayor Sharon Gaetz has had concerns about medicinal marijuana growers
for years and now she wants the city to restrict the activity using
zoning bylaws.

"The city has really no authority in enforcing any aspects of the
criminal code but we do have the responsibility of enforcing health
and safety issues and this is becoming a health and safety issue,"
Gaetz said at city council on Monday.

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 the Oct. 13 meeting of the public
safety advisory committee during which a July bylaw banning medical
marijuana in Pitt Meadows was discussed.

Pitt Meadows council passed a land use bylaw amendment ensuring grow
operations are not permitted 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.

Gaetz said in Chilliwack someone growing "two or three plants on their
windowsill" is not a concern. But those with a federal licence to grow
through the Medical Marihuana Access Regulations "can grow any amount"
with no regulations on lights or size.

The mayor said the city is concerned about electricity use, water
issues, disposal of fertilizers, fire danger and theft if criminals
find out about the plants.

In March of this year, a 53-year-old licensed marijuana grower in east
Chilliwack was targeted by two men who entered his home in an attempt
to steal his crop.

But critics say the city's stance amounts to fear-mongering over
critically ill individuals trying to access medicine.

"I think it is yet another step towards the continued marginalization
and stigmatization of medical marijuana production," said Kirk Tousaw,
a Vancouver lawyer and executive director of Beyond Prohibition
Foundation, an organization that seeks to repeal marijuana
prohibition.

"When municipalities begin to take steps in this direction, what they
are doing, consciously or otherwise, is essentially stamping out the
ability for patients to produce medicine for themselves or other
critically ill Canadians. I don't think that's acceptable policy for
municipalities."

As for the health and safety issues, Tousaw says it is nonsense that
the growing of plants indoors--something done by countless people--is
inherently dangerous. He suggested the move by Gaetz and council will
backfire and create further health and safety issues as medical
marijuana growers are further stigmatized and forced to go
underground.

"What Chilliwack will ensure is that people are not going to come
forward and hire contractors and pull permits and do it to code
because they are stigmatized thanks to this behaviour," he said.

For Tousaw and other legalization activists there is one thing they
agree with Gaetz about: marijuana growing should be taken out of homes.

"Obviously it would be better if people could grow for 15, 50 or 500
people, then you could have a business and take advantage of economies
of scale and do it in a warehouse," he said.