Growing marijuana for medicinal purposes may be legal, but its legality is causing headaches for local government and law enforcement agencies across B.C.
Many municipalities are now calling on Health Canada for a tightening of rules for legal grow-ops, and the Town of Gibsons has recently shown its support for a letter circulated by both the Township and City of Langley.
The letter, sent to federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, outlines the Langley mayor's concern over the issuance of medicinal marijuana licences, saying "the lack of adequate inspections, enforcement, controls and oversight on their implementation is a significant public issue."
"We are saying we agree with you," said Gibsons Coun. Gerry Tretick. "For example, in this community,we have no idea how many of these [legal grow-ops] there are, where they're located, and we have no control over them. All we see are the problems that result."
Many B.C. municipalities have been experiencing challenges with legal grow-ops, which are licensed by Health Canada yet unregulated. They are prone to many of the same problems as illegal grow-ops, including the possibility of criminal activity and "grow-rips," where licensed marijuana dealers have their operations broken into. They can potentially be very violent incidents and pose a risk to the community.
Sunshine Coast RCMP Sgt. Russ Howard confirmed there is no law or legislation in place for medicinal marijuana growers to register with the RCMP, nor are any inspections done.
"I think there should be something in place to allow for inspections," Howard said. "There is cause for concern."
Currently, the Town of Gibsons is the only local government on the Sunshine Coast that has a bylaw to deal with the issue of grow-ops.
Gibsons bylaw officer Ron Joyce said the purpose of the nuisance (controlled substance) bylaw is to ensure the citizens of Gibsons can be reasonably assured they might be free from exposure to the consequences of either a grow-op or a clandestine laboratory.
"Our bylaw allows us to invoke it only after a grow-op has been discovered by the police---we do not have the right to enter onto private property to discover if such a condition exists," said Joyce.
As for his opinion on the issue of licensed grow-ops, Joyce feels "there is no difference between an illicit grow-op or a licensed grow-op as it pertains to the issues the bylaw was intended to protect."
Gibsons council backed Langley's letter unanimously. The Sunshine Coast Regional Districtofficially received the letter at their last board meeting, but did not formalize an endorsement.
