Vancouver’s Mayor Gregor Robertson says he is looking forward to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government following through on their commitment to regulate, control and tax marijuana.
Speaking Friday at the Big City Mayors’ Caucus in Ottawa, Robertson said it will be good to have a “system that makes sense.”
“We’ve taken action in Vancouver to regulate the medical marijuana dispensaries to make sure there’s some framework locally to address the risk to kids and the proliferation of dispensaries,” said Robertson.
“We’ve been living in a vacuum and dealing with challenges at the street level in our cities. Certainly, kids today in Canada have too much access to marijuana.”
On Feb. 2, it was announced that 14 medical marijuana shops in the City of Vancouver are expected to be given a green light to operate. The city has turned down more than 160 applications because they did not meet zoning requirements and were too close to buildings like schools and community centres.
“I know cities across Canada are looking forward to a clear framework of regulation and control of marijuana,” said Robertson.