Council OKs pot shops
Licences issued to 2 dispensaries that have ‘made every effort to work with the city’
After nearly three hours of public consultation and debate, Penticton city council reached a compromise Tuesday on the contentious issue of medical marijuana dispensaries.
By a 4-2 vote, council approved six-month licences for shops at 101-351 Westminster Ave. and 409 Martin St., and denied five other requests.
“It’s happening whether you like it or not, and pretending that it isn’t happening isn’t going to fix what is happening,” Coun. Max Picton said.
“This allows us some measure of control in our community rather than no controls at all. The ones that are willing to play by the rules are the ones we want operating in the community until the federal government comes up with some definite provisions and guidelines.”
After a 3-3 stalemate on the first of seven requests (Coun. Tarik Sayeed was absent), Picton said only the four original applications should be considered — and only those that followed the city’s guidelines.
“These are the ones that have gone through the entire process, shown compliance and have made every effort to work with the city up until this point,” Picton said. “There have been those that have gone against our prior ruling and have continued to operate and have shown complete, blatant disregard for the rules. They will be the ones I won’t be supporting.”
Coun. Judy Sentes, noting the tied vote, changed her original position upon Picton’s suggestions.
“Some of the establishments appear superior to others, and there lies the dilemma,” Sentes said. “How do I, as a councillor, say, ‘You can, but you can’t?’ That’s an impossible question and it does bring me back to the legality. I do empathize because there are people who need the product. We’re not talking about refrigerators or trees, we’re talking about people.”
“When have we ever seen a single individual who has so defied expectations, broken the rules, violated norms, beaten not one but two political parties on the way to winning an election that he entered with 100-to-1 odds against him?” Gibbs said.
Clinton was the No. 2 finalist, Gibbs said. She said Clinton “came closer than any woman ever has to winning the White House, and in the process revealed, I think, both the opportunities and the obstacles that women face in the public square.”
“The Hackers” ranked after Clinton. Gibbs said that referred to “a new cyber security threat we saw this year of state-sponsored hackers looking to delegitimize an American election.”
She said this was “something new this year and something very disturbing.”