Ottawa blasts city pot shop plan
Health Minister Rona Ambrose sends letter to mayor, warning dispensaries are illegal
The federal government drew battle lines with the City of Vancouver Thursday over the city’s plans to regulate marijuana dispensaries, saying they are dangerously close to legitimizing an illegal substance.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government said municipal governments have no authority to regulate and license businesses that sell pot.
“I am deeply concerned by reports that the City of Vancouver intends to discuss a proposal to regulate illegal drug dispensaries at an upcoming council meeting,” Health Minister Rona Ambrose told Mayor Gregor Robertson in a letter.
Vancouver’s growing sector of dispensaries goes beyond the federal government’s 2013 regulations on the sale of pot for medical purposes, Ambrose said. She dismissed city manager Penny Ballem’s argument that the city is not seeking to regulate the drug itself and that federal rules have created a “grey zone,” leading to an explosion of pot dispensaries.
“These regulations are clear and do not provide municipalities with the authority to legitimize the commercial sale of marijuana, which remains an illegal substance,” Ambrose wrote to Robertson. “Storefronts and dispensaries do not operate within a ‘grey zone,’ and the law is clear: they are illegal.”
Ambrose’s unambiguous letter came a day after the city said it intends to wrestle down a growing unlicensed pot dispensary market operating under the guise of providing access to medical marijuana. New rigid rules, if adopted, would control who can operate pot shops and prohibit them from operating within 300 metres of schools, community centres and other dispensaries. Successful dispensary applicants will be charged a $30,000 annual administration fee, the highest in the city’s suite of licence fees it charges businesses. The nearest fee to that is $16,331, which the Pacific National Exhibition pays for its annual fair.
Ambrose’s letter made no concrete demands, but it appears to set the stage for another showdown with Vancouver over federal drug policies, especially as they relate to health.
In 2003, citing a rising level of drug overdoses, the city approved the first supervised injection site in North America. It initially had the support of the federal Liberal government, but the Harper government in later years repeatedly tried to shut it down. In 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the federal government’s decision to deny Insite a special health exemption from criminal law.
Last year, the Vancouver Police Department told Ottawa its officers wouldn’t shut illegal pot dispensaries when a new law delegated weed production and distribution to a handful of licensed operators.
A statement from Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney’s office also condemned Vancouver’s initiative.
“The fact is that marijuana use is still illegal in Canada,” spokesman Jeremy Laurin said. “We expect all local cities and police to respect and enforce the law.”
Provincial Justice Minister Suzanne Anton said only that B.C. will examine whether the city has the jurisdiction to do what it is proposing.
Experts weighed in Thursday on both sides.
Municipal lawyer Jonathan Baker, a former Vancouver councillor, said the city “is skating on thin ice” by trying to regulate businesses that are clearly illegal.
“They can’t license a crack house any more than they can license a pot dispensary. Any action that contravenes criminal law would be trumped by federal jurisdiction,” he said.
The city prohibits legal businesses all the time, and it has the authority to get rid of illegal ones, too, he said.
If city officials believe marijuana should be legalized, they should push for it, he added. “But you don’t simply break the law by taking money for a business that is prohibited federally.”
However, Neil Boyd, a B.C. criminologist, said Ottawa’s warnings may be little more than rhetoric given that the RCMP does not police the city.
“In real terms, there is little that the Harper Conservatives can do about the approach Vancouver is taking — and I don’t think they really want to do anything, at least in practical terms,” said Boyd, head of Simon Fraser University’s criminology department.
“Most Canadians believe that marijuana use and distribution should be regulated in accordance with public health, and not regarded as a crime. This is not conduct deserving of moral condemnation and the possibility of imprisonment.
“But in an effort to support their core constituency, the government remains quite willing to trot out this rather outmoded tale of moral condemnation. It’s just rhetoric, not any kind of practical action.”
He pointed out that Justice Minister Peter MacKay has mused publicly about the possibility his government will bring in a ticketing regime for simple pot possession.
Pot activist Jodie Emery applauded the city’s direction, saying it will help the argument to legalize marijuana.
“I think it is positive because it sends a message to both the provincial and the federal government and all other local governments that marijuana is not going away, marijuana is big business and since dispensaries are operating here without significant problems or harm, it is time to treat them like other businesses as best as they can,” she said.
Emery also warns that the city’s yet-to-be approved rules around where dispensaries can operate and who can own them may be too stringent. She said the annual administration fee of $30,000 is too high.
“Regulation is good because it means acceptance, but over-regulation can kill an industry and cause problems and maintain a black market,” Emery said.
Ballem admitted the administration fee is high but said it reflects the fact seven city departments, including police, fire, inspections and planning, as well as the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, have to oversee the plan.