Pot public hearing at city hall

By Andrea Klassen - Kamloops This Week Published: September 24, 2013 10:00 AM
It’s a public hearing nearly a year in the making.On Tuesday, Sept. 24, Kamloops city council will decide whether to adopt new regulations around medical marijuana grow-ops that would restrict them to city industrial lands.The changes were first proposed last fall, but the city spent much of the year waiting for the federal government to make its own major changes to the way it runs Canada’s medical-marijuana program.When the city first looked at changing its bylaw, Health Canada was issuing medical-marijuana growing licences to individual users, which led many people to grow at home.Now, the government is moving to a series of big, commercial grows, from where pot will be mailed to registered users. Under the city’s new regulations, grow-ops must also be at least 150 metres from residential areas, day cares, schools, parks and other locales “catering to individuals under the age of 18.”The public hearing begins at 7 p.m. at Kamloops City Hall, 7 Victoria St. W.