COUNCIL'S CANNABIS CONFAB CANCELLED-SORT OF

It took two years for Victoria's city council to set up a meeting
with Health Canada about medical marijuana, but it would seem the
federal agency balked when the city said the meeting had to be open
to the public.

The public meeting was scheduled for the end of January before it was
cancelled. "Due to the fact that the meeting was going to be public,
that was an issue," says mayor Alan Lowe. Apparently, there were
"certain proponents" the agency didn't want at the meeting, as it is
currently fighting those individuals in court cases.

And who might those "certain proponents" be? One might be inclined to
guess Health Canada was hoping to avoid an awkward meeting with
Philippe Lucas, who ran for city council as a Green and is currently
on vacation in Mexico (so they needn't worry about him). Lucas is the
director of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society, which
distributes medical marijuana, and a founder and director of the
lobby group Canadians for Safe Access. He has a long-running dispute
with Health Canada around whether or not the agency can be relied on
to supply cannabis to patients or to even listen to their needs.

But in case you're thinking the city council stood on principle,
arguing in the name of accessibility that the meeting should be open
to everyone, that doesn't appear to be what happened. Asked why they
didn't just meet in private with the feds, mayor Lowe says, "We
can't. We're not allowed under the legislation."

That's right, as soon as there are five councillors in a room for a
meeting, it counts as a council meeting and can't be closed unless
there's a financial or legal matter to discuss. The business with
Health Canada doesn't qualify. But don't worry, there's a way around
the inconvenience of being required to have open meetings. Says Lowe:
"We're going to try to have staff meet with them in the near future."

We're left wondering what the mayor has been smoking: Health Canada
spokesperson Chris Williams says the meeting did actually happen,
with senior city officials-but not councillors-on February 1. His
explanation for moving the meeting also differs from Lowe's. He says
it was because of the federal election.

So put that in your pipe and smoke it.