CITY CLAMPS DOWN ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA USERS, GROWERS

Permits Required, Agricultural Location Needed

People in Surrey who use or grow medical marijuana will soon have to
obtain municipal permits and growers will have to relocate to an
agricultural area.

Surrey council endorsed a plan that would place restrictions on how
and where medical marijuana is grown and stored in this city.

Since 2003, people with certain medical conditions - such as glaucoma,
spinal cord injury, pain or nausea from cancer or HIV and epileptic
seizures - have been allowed to use marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Others, who obtained federal licences, have been allowed to grow pot
in their home to supply those who need it for medical reasons.

The City of Surrey has long believed the medical grow-ops are often
wired incorrectly and pose a significant fire hazard, with structures
housing the grow-ops becoming up to 24 times more likely to burn.

The city also states the grows are often targets for violent grow
rips.

While Health Canada stipulates municipal permits are required, federal
health minister Leona Aglukkaq wrote in a letter to the Federation of
Canadian Municipalities in April, 2010: "Health Canada does not,
however, verify compliance with these requirements either before or
after licensing."

She also referred to a "reform exercise" being undertaken.

Even though that was a year ago, there has been no evidence locally of
a federal reform exercise to date, and Surrey Fire Chief Len Garis
said the Health Canada requirements continue to be ignored.

"They're not following any of the guidelines that Health Canada has
given them, not in one single case," Garis said Monday.

The exception, he said, is that several applications for inspections
have been submitted, but denied, because the grow-op was not in an
agricultural setting.

Health Canada told The Leader Monday it was still working on the
reform exercise.

"Health Canada is currently considering longer-term measures to reform
the Marijuana Medical Access Program and its regulations," a spokesman
for the ministry said. "In its considerations, the department is
focussing on three key objectives: public health, safety and security;
reasonable access to marijuana for medical purposes; and examining the
overall costs to Health Canada.

"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."

A corporate report to Surrey council Monday recommends a bylaw that
would require permits for anyone using medical marijuana, another for
those using and growing pot, and a separate permit for those growing
marijuana for others.

Under the bylaw, if a person refuses to comply, they may be convicted
of an indictable offense.

Citing privacy reasons, Health Canada has not provided information
about medical grow-ops in specific municipalities. Health Canada does
say that 3,627 people in this province have federal authority to
possess medical marijuana. About 30 per cent of those are allowed to
produce pot for other people who use it.

Garis has said municipalities participating in the Electrical Fire and
Safety Initiative have found 50 medical grow operations during their
inspections.

The bylaw also indicates the growers would have to comply with local
zoning requirements.

Garis said that would likely mean they would have to relocate to an
agricultural area.