Tuesday is the last full day of B.C.’s public consultation on legalized marijuana, and the province’s minister of public safety says the feedback has raised a number of concerns.
About 43,000 people made submissions to the government over the five week period.
One area of concern, Farnworth said, is how pot will be distributed.
“What kind of tools do they need in terms of regulating, licensing, and zoning? We’ve got to look at the distribution model, do we go with a Liquor Distribution Branch type of model? Or do we allow different distributors to be allowed to enter the market?”
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The province has created a working group with the Union of B.C. Municipalities to hammer out those questions, Farnworth said, and the province is prepared to allow different models in different communities.
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The City of Richmond has already gone on record to say it doesn’t want anything to do with marijuana in any form — and Farnworth said he’s sensitive to those concerns.
“There are I guess what you call dry counties or dry communities in both Washington and Oregon, that may be a possibility here. It’s not something I’m going to rule right out of hand,” Farnworth said, though he added that no city or province can avoid the fact pot will be legal under federal law.
Respondents have also raised concerns about the public consumption of pot, and Farnworth said the government is looking at what other provinces are doing to regulate that — along with considering adapting current rules around public drinking.
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Questions around advertising have also come up, and Farnworth said the province will likely take a strict line on that front.
“I would say right now that there will be very restrictive approaches to the marketing of cannabis, in whatever retail model it’s sold. Particularly with respect to things such as packaging and advertising.”
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Another key theme, Farnworth said, was second-hand smoke and pot use in apartments and stratas.
That is a particularly complex issue, he said, considering some residents may have a legal permit to consume medical marijauna products. Farnworth said he’s met with the B.C. Landlords Association to discuss the topic, and that edible pot products could be a solution.
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“That may well be one of the ways to resolve the issue. Stratas, apartment buildings could be a no-smoking building, but if you have a medical prescription for cannabis for example, then if you’re using an edible that resolves the issue of smoking.”
British Columbians who want to weigh in can still do so through the website the province has set up to collect feedback on legal cannabis.
The federal government has set July 2018 as its target for legalizing pot.
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