HRM: The local councillor said there’s not a lot of history for HRM and the country to go on in legalizing marijuana.
Lisa Blackburn said that council’s discussion on how they will approach it is one that has left “everyone stumbling in the dark.”
“The only nation we can look at for this is Uruguay,” she said. “We can lean to our counterparts in Colorado where marijuana is legal.
“As a nation we just don’t know how this is going to play out from coast-to-coast-to-coast. We’re not here to demonize cannabis, but at the same time we have to have some regulations in place.”
At regional council on July 17, council passed two sets of bylaw amendments which govern the smoking and growing of cannabis in the municipality once it becomes legalized on Oct. 17.
The first set of amendments make it illegal to smoke marijuana or tobacco in an HRM municipal park. The second set of amendments—made to the municipality’s nuisance bylaw—will ban smoking on all municipal property, including streets and sidewalks. However, it will allow the municipality to set up designated smoking areas, which will be announced next month.
Blackburn said some residents in land- lease communities in her district have been told in no uncertain terms that marijuana will not be permitted on the premises.
“I’ve had people call me and say ‘I have a medicinal marijuana card, what does this mean for me?’” she said. “I am in the midst of looking into it. My initial take on it is that it is covered under federal legislation, and municipal can’t trump that.”
She’s in favour of making sure the regulations are as tight as can be.
“Are we going to get it all right? Probably not,” said Blackburn. “I’m in favour of reviewing the regulations in six months, a year and seeing if we need all of them, and peeling them back where necessary.”
Blackburn feels what HRM has come up with is a good balance.
“It balances out what will be a legal product with the proper regulations to ensure people can consume the product safely,” she said. “The bottom line is you can’t walk down the middle of Beaver Bank Road swigging from a bottle of wine, so it makes sense that you won’t be able to walk down the middle of Beaver Bank Road smoking a joint.”
