NDP’s pot sales plan is weak

In an interview with The Citizen last April during the 2017 provincial election, NDP leader John Horgan admitted that government and politicians are behind public sentiment when it comes to marijuana.

Knowing it and saying it is one thing but Horgan, now the premier, still seems reluctant to act on it, based on the additional details on a provincial pot policy the NDP government announced Monday that will take effect once marijuana is legalized later this year.

“Some may think that this work will end in July when non-medical cannabis is legalized by the federal government,” Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said. “But the truth is our government will be dealing with this significant change in policy for years to come.”

What trivial fretting over behaviour the public and the marketplace have already decided upon.

An NDP government under someone like Dave Barrett would have boldly introduced sweeping guidelines for the sale of legal marijuana in existing public liquor stores and private liquor outlets, while leaving the fate of existing and proposed dispensaries up to individual municipalities.

Instead, Horgan and his ministers are just as bad as the B.C. Liberals were on this file, tiptoeing around the issue instead of taking the decisive action the public wants to see. Some of the details revealed Monday: Pot will be available for purchase online. News flash: Cannabis is already bought and sold online in B.C. For anyone who has personally visited a dispensary in Vancouver or Victoria and became a member (that is, produced

a driver’s licence proving their age, identity and home address), that dispensary will ship your online order to your home, anywhere in the province.

People will be able to smoke pot in public places where smoking and vaping are allowed, except for vehicles and outdoor areas where kids hang out, like playgrounds, parks and beaches.

News flash: Another already common practice in most communities. Adult pot smokers are most likely to be found in their backyards. Some idiots spark up and then get behind the wheel, just like some drive after drinking.

These people need to lose their vehicles and their driver’s licences for a year, not just 90 days as the NDP proposes.

People can grow up to four plants per household but landlords and strata councils can further restrict or outright prohibit the growing of cannabis.

News flash: Landlords and strata councils already have written policy on everything from making your own wine and beer in your basement to whether you can use a barbecue or hang flower baskets off your deck. Landlords and strata councils were going to set their own rules, whether the province liked it or not.

While the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch will be the wholesale distributor for legal marijuana, it won’t be able to sell it in public liquor stores, nor will anybody else that sells liquor or tobacco.

News flash: An advocacy group, made up of private liquor stores and the union representing public liquor store workers, want marijuana to be sold in liquor stores under the existing system and procedures, which is the direction Nova Scotia and the Northwest Territories have wisely taken.

The benefits are obvious. Mayor and councillors in B.C. municipalities, including Prince George, could rest easy knowing reputable outlets already approved to sell alcohol are responsible for dispensing pot, while consumers know they are buying safe and legal marijuana, not sketchy product funding gang activity.

While the province will oversee applications for retail cannabis sales, municipalities will have the final say on how many licences are granted and where they must operate.

News flash: In other words, the province is treating marijuana exactly the same as alcohol and giving municipalities the authority to set their own local retail policy but won’t allow existing retail alcohol establishments to sell pot. Bizarre. It will remain illegal in B.C. to buy marijuana at legal facilities where it is mass produced.

News flash: Craft breweries and wineries can sell their products directly to consumers who walk through their doors. Why won’t marijuana producers be able to do the same? Also bizarre. This hot mess of a provincial policy lands directly onto the lap of B.C. municipalities, including Kelowna and Penticton, during an election year.

Hopefully Prince George city council and other councils are more mature than the provincial government and makes pragmatic decisions on legal marijuana sales in line with the existing preferences of local residents.

Neil Godbout is managing editor of The Prince George Citizen.