Written by Glen Morrison 107.5 KISSFM Tuesday, 22 October 2013 15:00
Lumby council has given first reading to a bylaw allowing regulation of medical marijuana grow-ops in municipal boundaries. Mayor Kevin Acton says the new rules are a huge concern for municipalities, as the federal government changes who and where it can be grown. "We're happy that it's not going to be grow-ops in houses. I always thought that was very dangerous especially when they can do more than one license. You can have three or four licenses in a house where no one knows about it, and some kids find out about it and decide to help themselves and the owner doesn't want them to. You can end up with God know's what going on there," says Acton. Acton says moving the grow-ops to agricultural and industrial land is a positive step, but he's not sure how it'll be policed. "There's some concern about where they put them and what kind of facilities they will be putting up. There just really is no control on agricultural land in comparison to what we can do with industrial land," says Acton. Acton hopes the Agricultural Land Commission will take a stance on the issue. He says council's can put bylaws in place for industrial and residential land that can restrict grow ops, but on agriculture land, they have no say other than setbacks and building heights. The mayor says council gave the bylaw first reading just to get it going. "This is moving really fast and if we don't get on the ball here, we're gong to be playing catch-up," he tells Kiss FM.
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