Pot advocates want the City of Vancouver to ease regulations rather than restrict with legalization
Posted June 26, 2018 11:14 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Vancouver’s marijuana bylaw will remain largely unchanged as cannabis is legalized this fall, disappointing many pot activists.
City Council has passed a bylaw amendment, which changes the wording to align with the federal legalization bill but keeps dispensary regulations (first introduced in 2015) the same.
The City is, at least for now, keeping a $30,000 license fee for marijuana stores, which will have to still be 300 metres away from community centres, schools, and other pot shops.
“They haven’t changed anything and that’s the problem,” says marijuana activist Dana Larsen.
He argues bylaws should be loosening up with legalization.
“It just seems to me that this is a time when they should be looking at opening things up, not reinforcing the restrictions they’ve been putting in place,” says Larsen. “I don’t understand why the City is so focused on trying to limit the number of legal cannabis shops and keep it to just a handful when there is clearly a demand for this.”
He adds pot shops provide employment and marijuana is a potentially life-saving tool amidst the opioid crisis.
