The City of Surrey may soon lose its status as one of a small handful of B.C. communities without legal cannabis stores.
The city is considering allowing up to 12 retail shops, with a maximum of two in each of its six communities, and is asking the public to weigh in on a proposed draft framework to guide location and selection criteria.
Surrey Coun. Doug Elford said the city has been closely monitoring the experiences other municipalities have had with legal pot shops, and hasn’t observed any major problems.
“It’s not the devil’s lettuce as it used to be known,” he said.
“The fact of the matter is many people still go to the black or the grey market, when they should be able to go to a regulated store with regulated cannabis where it is (quality controlled) and you know you are getting product that’s not harmful.”
Elford said if the policy is approved, would-be retailers will be closely vetted, and will need to go through stringent provincial licensing protocols.
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Allowing the shops in Surrey, he added, will prevent people from getting into their cars to buy cannabis in other jurisdictions.
“It’s legal, and it’s available in all of our bordering municipalities,” he said.
“Delta, for example, they have nine stores already, and the one store on Scott Road, for example, is the busiest in British Columbia, and they attribute it to the fact that most of the people who visit it are Surrey residents.”
Allowing legalized cannabis stores in Surrey would be a political shift, with some on council having long opposed the concept.
In a statement, Mayor Brenda Locke said she still doesn’t like the idea.
“While I personally do not support the introduction of cannabis retail operations in the City of Surrey, this survey will provide valuable insight into the views of Surrey residents,” Locke said.
“As Mayor, I have and will remain committed to transparency and public engagement.”
The business community, however, is on board.
The Surrey Chamber of Commerce said the proposal could bring valuable jobs to the city, and that it hopes to see the changes implemented by this spring.
“It’s a long time coming,” added Philip Aguierre, executive director of the Newtown Business Improvement Association.
“There’s always negative — you want to make sure the schools and daycares have distances,” he said.
“But otherwise, as a business standpoint, new businesses in our town centres is a good thing. It also decreases the amount of illegal action on our streets or people having to drive outside of our city to get their cannabis.”
Locals Global News spoke with were cautiously optimistic, but expressed some reservation about the number being proposed.
“Twelve is too many — at least put like six of them in just to begin with, and if it is helping others or making health worse then we’d have to close some down,” Lorena Gonzalez said.
“Surrey should open the shops,” said Nilay Joshi.
“I’m not so sure about the number so much, but definitely making use of that revenue that is generated through the businesses, because it is legalized right, so might as well as a city take advantage of that.”
Residents looking to weigh in on the concept can fill out an online survey until Feb. 5.
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