Provincial Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says five years is too long to wait for the federal government to deal with organized crime鈥檚 infiltration into Canada鈥檚 medical marijuana industry.
鈥淚 am concerned about the role of organized crime in the production of medical marijuana, particularly we鈥檝e seen around the Hells Angels and the use of the medical marijuana licences, and I think it鈥檚 an issue that should be concerning the federal government,鈥� Farnworth told reporters at a press conference in Surrey this past Friday.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 unacceptable that organized crime has been able to infiltrate on the medical marijuana production side,鈥� said Farnworth, who is also B.C.鈥檚 solicitor general. 鈥淚 know the federal government has said they intend to address the issue of medical marijuana, changes and reforms within five years, I think that鈥檚 far too long. I think it needs to be dealt with much sooner that that.
Farnworth said the challenge 鈥渙f course鈥� is that medical marijuana is solely regulated by the federal government and as a result the legislation the provincial government will be tabling 鈥渋s only able to deal with the recreational legalization of recreational cannabis because that鈥檚 what the federal government is legalizing.
鈥淢edical marijuana will still be governed by existing federal regulation, federal rules and until that changes, we can only deal with the recreational side of things,鈥� he said.
Meantime, the government minister said he intends to introduced legislation as early as the week of April 23rd concerning recreational pot use.
鈥淭here are significant changes, obviously, that are going to be happening in the coming weeks with new legislation and legalization that鈥檚 taking place at the federal level and so that I expect that is obviously going to have an impact on the events such as 4/20 in the coming years,鈥� he said.
鈥淚鈥檓 expecting to be introducing legislation next week, I know that it will be introduced next week,鈥� he said on Friday, April 20th. 鈥淲e鈥檙e also looking forward to the final version of the federal legislation that we know is scheduled to be passed on June 7. There may be amendments that we鈥檙e not aware, we鈥檙e not sure of yet. We鈥檙e still waiting to see what the final bill looks like at the federal level, C-45, and of course Bill C-46, the impaired driving legislation is also waiting to be dealt with by the Senate. Obviously we鈥檙e have to wait and see what those amendments are.鈥�
Farnworth said B.C.鈥檚 NDP government will be looking closely at what the federal government does. 鈥淥f course, whatever they decide impacts us because we are operating within the federal government鈥檚 framework on the legislation the province will need to put into place.鈥�
So where will the provincial government allow recreational pot to be sold here in B.C.?
鈥淲e鈥檝e launched a public consultation process, with local government for example, on the retail system,鈥� Farnworth told reporters. 鈥淭he details of course will be in our legislation but we have made it clear that local communities will get a say in what kind of stores will be operating in their community, so for example it could be a government store, it could be a private store 鈥� some communities have said they don鈥檛 want any store, and we鈥檙e okay with that as well; we鈥檙e not going to be ramming stores down any community鈥檚 throat.鈥�
Farnworth said hurdles will have to be jumped. 鈥淚n order to have a retail outlet, you are going to have to get local government approval. If you don鈥檛 get local government approval, you will not be getting provincial government approval.鈥�
tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
Like us on Follow us on and follow Tom on
