WINNIPEG -- Laurie Monk says she is surrounded by marijuana grow operations licensed for medical purposes in her residential neighbourhood. They are causing quite a stink.
“It’s creating issues for the neighbourhood not only in terms of smell and you know, liveability, but also in terms of potential fire risk,” said Monk.
The Winnipeg homeowner said no one is checking to make sure the operations are actually medical in nature and in compliance with safety rules.
“They appear to be unregulated, they appear to be un-inspected,” said Monk.
Health Canada allows up to four growing licenses per location, which can result in hundreds of plants per home.
City Councillors Ross Eadie, Devi Sharma and Janice Lukes have been fielding complaints from homeowners in their wards about medical grow ops being run like commercial enterprises.
“What we’re seeing and what the federal government is also seeing now, nefarious activity, resulting in neighbourhoods where some of these large medical grow ops are located,” said Lukes.
A city report citing federal stats says the number of medical cannabis cultivation sites in Manitoba went from 921 to 1,985 over the last two years – an increase of 115 per cent.
That same report says the city might be able to regulate these operations with a bylaw.
The councillors have asked for options to be explored including banning or limiting production in residential neighbourhoods, as well as mandating proper heating, electrical and ventilation systems.
“It will ultimately come down to a zoning issue and requirements around probably how many plants someone can grow in a residentially zoned home,” said Lukes.
But that could invite human rights or constitutional challenges. Cannabis advocate Glenn Price said restricting people from growing medical cannabis in their homes is discriminatory.
“If you had cancer and you were going to die, and you needed 600 plants to stay alive, would you not grow six hundred plants?” said Price.
Monk said she is not seeking banishment. She said she sympathizes with people who need to grow cannabis for their medical needs. She has no problem living beside a medicinal grow op, as long as it’s legit, she said.
“My issue is those folks who are driving through the loopholes, the existing loopholes and establishing these commercial grade grow ops with no oversight,” said Monk.
This month Health Canada announced it is doing consultations on changes to medical cannabis production. Health Canada said this stems from some compliance concerns and the discovery of illegal large-scale productions where police charged individuals for drug and weapons offences.
