During Ucluelet's April 8 regular council meeting Coun. Sally Mole spoke to a recent newspaper article she read regarding the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District's (ACRD) conversations around medical marijuana.
"I noticed on the front page of the Alberni Valley Times today that there's a Ucluelet resident who has a medical marijuana license and that seems to have been a hot topic on the ACRD table," she said.
Mole asked Mayor Bill Irving to provide background on the discussions that have been occurring at the regional district.
Irving hesitated to call the issue a "hot topic" regionally because the ACRD's discussions only involve locations within the region where medical marijuana growing operations could occur under the conditions imposed by the provincial and federal governments.
"There's quite a number of people thinking they're going to capitalize on this but the requirements for fencing, for security, for cameras, for lighting, for trained staff, is pretty onerous and there's only a limited market," he said. "I think there's under 50,000 (authorized medicinal marijuana users) actually across Canada so it's going to be an interesting exercise."
The ACRD is considering a proposed bylaw to allow Health Canada approved marijuana production facilities to operate within the district's rural areas like Beaver Creek, Cherry Creek, and Sproat Lake, according to an April 11 news story by Scott McKenzie of the Alberni Valley Times.
reporter@westerlynews.ca