City council overlooks drawbacks of pot

There are many absurdities in Victoria city council’s pot-regulation proposals:

Second-hand smoke, whether it is from tobacco or pot, affects everyone in the vicinity. When you add pot’s psychoactive components into the mix, non-users get all the unhealthy tar and lung contaminant and they also get stoned. Not everyone has a pleasant reaction to cannabis.

While I can decline a drink if it is offered, I can’t decline the effect of pot smoke in my air, whether it’s from a pot lounge or seeping through the ventilation system of a building.

City council unleashed rampant licensing of pot dispensaries, and is now having difficulty managing their proliferation. City taxpayers shoulder the burden for bylaw enforcement and regulation while shopowners reap windfall profits.

Council should be asking the provincial government to oversee and tax the distribution of recreational pot through the Liquor Control Board and outlets. This is the only way out of the regulatory minefield councillors foolishly waltzed into.

Medical marijuana should be grown with full quality control and known quantities of THC and CBD, prescribed by a physician in oral or patch form, and dispensed by a pharmacist. If it is medically necessary, it should be part of the medical system.

Mayor Lisa Helps and council: You may register this as pushback.

Barbara Wiggins Victoria