One month ahead of recreational marijuana being legalized, Richmond city council still has several questions and concerns.
At last week’s city council meeting, councillors requested that city staff gather more information from the province on how local governments can regulate the growth of cannabis for personal use.
“We’re one month away from legalization, basically, and I’m a little concerned we’re asking for this kind of stuff at this time,” said Coun. Bill McNulty at the Sept. 10 council meeting.
McNulty added that he wanted to know what rights Richmond citizens or neighbours had if someone nearby was growing cannabis.
“Does that mean my neighbour next door can plant four plants or eight plants, whatever it is...what rights do I have as well, never mind the person who’s growing,” he asked.
“I know if lavender is next door to me and I have an allergy to it, I can go talk to my neighbour and they’d probably move the lavender plants to the back or something like that. But what rights do I have if you’re growing cannabis?”
McNulty also said he’d like to know what the city can do to regulate cannabis growth for personal use.
“What powers are we going to have as a municipality? Is anything going to be given to us in addition to what we have now? Because we’re the ones that are footing the bill at the moment,” he said.
For Coun. Chak Au, these municipal powers need to be clarified.
“I think it’s better for the city to ask for clarification on the authority that we have,” he said during the council meeting.
“The provincial government has already given us the authority, such as making our regulation on retailing and also making it possible for strata councils to make their own regulations. So some power has already been given to us.”
Au added that the province needs to step in and guide cities to avoid chaos.
“I advocate, at least at this time, that we would tell the provincial government that they need to do something,” he said. “They need to have some plans and it would be advisable for them to come up with a universal system that can be applied to all cities.”
For Coun. Carol Day, the legalization deadline itself is coming up too quickly.
“Legalization at this point is really premature with so many unanswered questions,” she said.
“I’m very concerned. We don’t want to be like Vancouver and have a pot store on every corner.”
Following the council meeting, it’s now up to city staff to seek clarification from the province on how personal cultivation of marijuana is to be regulated.
Recreational cannabis will be legal in Canada on Oct. 17.
