Stepping up
Islander hosting public discussion on legal pot after government says no to public meetings
A local woman is taking matters into her own hands to speak openly about legalizing marijuana after her request to government for a public meeting was denied.
Annie MacEachern says she asked provincial officials about its plans for a public meeting after government released a public engagement survey asking
Islanders for their opinions on how the province should deal with impaired driving, education, taxation, public health and regulatory compliance in regards to legal cannabis.
When she was told there were no public meetings planned, she decided to host her own meetings.
“When they told me that they would not be offering any kind of informational sessions or public discussions, I felt responsible to take that on,” she says.
MacEachern, who has a degree in public relations, says she has been researching the cannabis industry for the last five years.
“Public safety and health are my main concerns in the legalization of recreational cannabis, and I firmly believe that conversations about how this rolls out need to be happening in the public with our communities.”
She held her first public discussion at the new National Access Cannabis location in P.E.I. and was attended by about 50 people. She hopes an even larger group attends her second event on Sunday.
“A lot of people of have messaged me on social media and come up to me in public to tell me they were excited to hear that this discussion was happening in public. People want to talk about this. All I want to do is allow a safe, open space to discuss cannabis,” MacEachern said.
In a statement to The Guardian, the province says it is limiting its requests for public input to written or survey submissions at this time because of the limited time it has before the federal government makes marijuana legal in July 2018.
“We have a very short timeline for decision making, writing legislation and creating policy for cannabis use,” the government statement said.
“The public survey allows us to focus the discussion on areas which the province actually has control over (i.e. legal age, distribution method), and the format is accessible for all Islanders.”
Government further argues this approach is reaching more Islanders than public meetings would.
“Where a town hall typically only brings in a small portion of the population, we have already reached more than 2,700 Islanders through the online survey to-date, plus those who submitted paper copies to Access P.E.I. and those who have made a written submission.”
The province did say it plans to also reach out to stakeholders for consultation and pledged to “have further public engagement when it comes to education and information on issues such as public health, safety, law enforcement, etc.”
MacEachern’s public discussion will take place Sunday at Dynamic Fitness, 99 Pownal St., from 2 to 4 p.m. The event is open to the public.