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Lethbridge city council postpones cannabis community meeting

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Lethbridge city council postpones community meeting on cannabis
WATCH: Lethbridge city council has voted to postpone holding a public meeting on cannabis. As Jessie Weisner explains, Lethbridge is falling behind other Canadian cities and plans on hosting the meeting in late June – Apr 16, 2018

A community meeting in Lethbridge to discuss the legalization of marijuana has been put on hold.

The meeting was originally scheduled for May 14 but has been moved to the end of June. It will be hosted by the Community Issues Committee.

City council decided Monday it needs more time to plan out the meeting structure and thoroughly research cannabis.

Councillor Jeffery Coffman says it’s a complex issue.

“We have everything to look at, from land-use planning to police regulation to parks bylaws,” Coffman said. “There’s a huge gambit of things that we have to consider.”

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All municipalities in Canada are required to hold some kind of public forum or survey to get an idea of what their community wants in terms of legal cannabis.

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Following the public input to council, draft amendments to bylaws are made.

Lethbridge is a bit behind compared to another similar-sized southern Alberta city.

Medicine Hat has already gone through the public feedback stage and bylaw amendments are already underway.

With the federal government conceding it won’t hit its original legalization goal of July 1, Coffman says the extra time to prepare should be utilized.

READ MORE: Doobie dos and dont’s: Alberta outlines rules for retail marijuana sales 

“I think every municipality in Canada is facing this at different levels and any additional time we can take is time worthwhile.”

Whenever legal cannabis is introduced in Lethbridge, interest will definitely be high.

READ MORE: 87 applications received so far for Alberta cannabis retail stores 

The Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission has already received six retail cannabis applications from our city.

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