COUNCIL DEBATES FUTURE OF POT

Coun. John Koury wants North Cowichan council to "strongly urge the
federal government to strengthen regulations regarding medical
marijuana. Period."

The motion came after council received a letter from the City and
Township of Langley recommending North Cowichan join them in
suggesting to the feds to shore up the rules, cancel current licences
and dispense the drug through licensed pharmacies upon a doctor's
prescription, among other suggestions.

While agreeing it's becoming a widespread issue, Koury said he's
against telling the government how to make the laws tougher.

"I think there are a lot of problems with the legislation...I think we
can send a clear message that this is a problem, this needs to be
addressed, these laws need to be strengthened."

In February, a frustrated North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP detachment
commander Insp. Kevin Hewco told council his unit's already stretched
resources are being wasted investigating legal grow-ops.

Hewco said within the first week of his "Green Team's" latest
initiative 12 out of 12 of the operations they'd suspected were
growing the drug, or had received a tip about, were in fact medically
licensed to grow marijuana.

All 12, however, were also producing "considerably" more than they
were licensed for, he added.

Instead of endorsing Koury's motion, council elected to send the issue
to its police services committee for further input from Hewco.