The District of Sechelt isn’t interested in licensing and regulating medicinal marijuana dispensaries until the federal laws change.
S&M Sweet Shoppe co-owner Michelle Sikora made a pitch for regulation and licensing of dispensaries at the Nov. 18 council meeting, but council wasn’t receptive.
“Nobody on council indicated any interest in getting any further staff reports or knowledge, so it sort of slid at that point back into administrative limbo,” said Sechelt Mayor Bruce Milne following the meeting.
He noted, however, that licensing of dispensaries is a topic of discussion among councillors. “It is being discussed in terms of how we might approach an issue that’s changing quite rapidly. From a municipal perspective, my main concern is activities in the residential neighbourhood and that there is a way that solves those that works well for people,” Milne said.
“We really don’t want to start treading into federal criminal law, and that’s the other delicate side of this. We’re working as well as we can to be supportive of the RCMP, our policing, and also to work within community values, and it’s a bit of a balancing act right now.”
Milne added that he didn’t feel there was much desire by council to push forward with the issue until the federal rules change. “We would prefer that it be resolved at the federal level and when there are legitimate boundaries and structures for the use of any products, then we can issue business licences,” Milne said.
“We will probably try to sort out a few things in advance of that so we can think about appropriate locations, but once they are a legitimate business I want to treat them like any other legitimate business.”
