Region’s health committee says there’s too many unanswered questions
by Allan Benner
Members of Niagara’s public
health committee are concerned about the pending legalization of
marijuana. - rgbspace/photo
With a little more than a month before marijuana can be legally
purchased, there are still too many unanswered questions about the
pending sale of the drug.
And west Niagara mayors in particular are concerned that upper-tier governments are moving ahead with the legalization of the drug much too quickly.
"We're going way too fast," West Lincoln Mayor Doug Joyner told members of Niagara's public health committee, Tuesday.
Joyner said he attended a recent meeting in Hamilton to discuss the pending cannabis legalization hoping to learn more about the plans. But there were still far more questions than answers — despite online sale of cannabis beginning on Oct. 17, and storefront sales as of next April 1.
"There's no way we're ready for this at all," Joyner said.
Grimsby Mayor Bob Bentley, too, is concerned about "the speed at which this is being rolled out."
For instance, although municipalities will be given the option of allowing storefront cannabis sales, Bentley said he remains concerned about a lack of information about zoning restrictions allowing municipalities to control where cannabis dispensaries are to be located.
"It's a public safety issue as well. You look at current dispensaries, although they're illegal right now, and the activities that happen around them, they're not the type of activities that you want to have in a commercial area, and definitely not in a sensitive area," he said.
Niagara's acting medical officer of health, Dr. Mustafa Hirji, said health department staff "certainly share your frustration about how slow details are coming out, and how quickly now we have to respond at our level to this."
Meanwhile, as Niagara's committee develops strategies to safeguard the health of residents from the use of cannabis — similar to its efforts to control the use of tobacco — Joyner suggested a "balanced approach."
"If we want to be totally 100 per cent restrictive, we're just going to drive this industry underground and we're going to be nowhere," Joyner said.
And west Niagara mayors in particular are concerned that upper-tier governments are moving ahead with the legalization of the drug much too quickly.
"We're going way too fast," West Lincoln Mayor Doug Joyner told members of Niagara's public health committee, Tuesday.
Joyner said he attended a recent meeting in Hamilton to discuss the pending cannabis legalization hoping to learn more about the plans. But there were still far more questions than answers — despite online sale of cannabis beginning on Oct. 17, and storefront sales as of next April 1.
"There's no way we're ready for this at all," Joyner said.
Grimsby Mayor Bob Bentley, too, is concerned about "the speed at which this is being rolled out."
For instance, although municipalities will be given the option of allowing storefront cannabis sales, Bentley said he remains concerned about a lack of information about zoning restrictions allowing municipalities to control where cannabis dispensaries are to be located.
"It's a public safety issue as well. You look at current dispensaries, although they're illegal right now, and the activities that happen around them, they're not the type of activities that you want to have in a commercial area, and definitely not in a sensitive area," he said.
Niagara's acting medical officer of health, Dr. Mustafa Hirji, said health department staff "certainly share your frustration about how slow details are coming out, and how quickly now we have to respond at our level to this."
Meanwhile, as Niagara's committee develops strategies to safeguard the health of residents from the use of cannabis — similar to its efforts to control the use of tobacco — Joyner suggested a "balanced approach."
"If we want to be totally 100 per cent restrictive, we're just going to drive this industry underground and we're going to be nowhere," Joyner said.
"If they're $1.30 or $2.20 more than what they can buy it on the street, they're not buying it from the government," Joyner said.
Health committee members approved a motion directing Regional Chair Alan Caslin to ask the provincial government for dedicated funding to address public health considerations, while also asking the province to allow Niagara Region to oversee licensing, enforcement and inspection of the dispensaries, and limitations on the sale of marijuana.
Although the motion also called for a report on the Region's response to the sale of marijuana by the second quarter of 2019, Joyner said that report needs to be provided long before then.
"That's way too late. That has to be the absolute very first thing that the new regional government deals with," he said, adding he'd like to see a report by December.
Hirji said as details about cannabis legalization become available "we are very happy to bring a report forward."
He said the second quarter of 2019 "would be last resort."
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