NEW RULES TO CULL LICENSED POT GROWERS

Government Expected to Prohibit Patients From Producing Their Own
Medical Marijuana

The federal government is expected to announce new rules for growing
medical marijuana which would make it so only licensed growers would
be permitted to cultivate and distribute it.

The move would eliminate individual and private growers from the
current system, whereby eligible people apply to Health Canada which
then issues the licence.

People in the dispensing community who have been hearing about the
impending change say it's unwelcome, and will do more harm than good.

"They'll effectively be removing the rights of medical cannabis
patients to produce their own cannabis," said Adam Greenblatt, a
spokesman for the Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis
Dispensaries.

"That's problematic because you have patients who spend many years
trying to find the variety that works for them, and also because some
patients have invested a lot of money in growing supplies."

A Health Ministry spokesman said they will begin consulting on new
rules in the "near future." Steve Outhouse said the rules "will
balance patient access to medical marijuana while strengthening public
safety."

Recently, mayors and councillors across the country have been
complaining, saying the current system poses dangers when growers
don't follow local electrical, health and safety bylaws.

At the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference earlier this
month, delegates approved a resolution to ask that Health Canada issue
licences only to growers who have already received a licence from
their respective municipality.

In March, the mayors of Langley City and Langley Township wrote to
Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, saying too many licences are floating
around, making it impossible for municipalities to know who is
licensed and whether those growers are operating safely.

Last month, RCMP drug investigators arrested three men and seized a
helicopter after raiding a Maple Ridge property growing almost seven
times more pot than its two medical marijuana licences permitted. The
Federal Drug Enforcement Branch found 1,490 plants instead of the 220
permitted.