In the wake of the provincial government’s announcement in early February regarding recreational cannabis regulation, Victoria’s city councillors can give themselves a pat on the back for having shown true political foresight on this issue.
If one were to put stock in radio call-in programs and internet comments sections, one might think that Victoria is in the midst of a catastrophic explosion of illegal dispensary store fronts. In fact, the decision to begin regulating cannabis retail stores two years ago has led to the closure of more than a dozen non-compliant dispensaries, eliminated clusters of pot shops in neighbourhoods, and prevented countless new storefronts from opening.
In addition, the move to regulate cannabis retail at the municipal level has provided a trailblazing example of public consultation that the provincial government has suggested other B.C. municipalities should follow.
The federal announcement in mid-February that legal recreational cannabis will not be available until August or September gives municipalities a short extension to try to put in place processes for zoning both public and private cannabis retail stores.
The province released the B.C. Cannabis Private Retail Licensing Guide, which leaves it to municipalities to regulate where and how retail outlets operate, and to decide through public consultation whether their residents support cannabis retail stores.
This is where the City of Victoria has shown incredible foresight and leadership. After more than two years of public hearings on rezoning applications for cannabis dispensaries, the public process is bearing fruit; stores without public support that run afoul of regulations are being shuttered, while stores with strong community support remain open and compliant.
Indeed, reading between the lines of the provincial government’s licensing guide, it suggests a model more similar to Victoria than any other city in B.C. that has begun licensing cannabis businesses.
The province’s regulatory regime will not bar existing “illegal” dispensaries from applying to become licensed retailers, although they will also not receive any special treatment. Victoria has already been through this lengthy process, making it a leader in the province, and Mayor Lisa Helps knows it.
“We’re happy to share our regulatory regime with every other local government in the province that’s now going to have to scramble to get something in place by July,” Helps has said.
There was always risk involved in the city regulating dispensaries, including political backlash from more conservative Victorians who saw the move as abetting illegal enterprises. However, political developments at the federal and provincial levels have validated the early, but prudent, regulations from the city.
When the current city council was elected in 2014, none of the candidates could have imagined that cannabis retail would be a dominant issue during their term. Hindsight shows that this council was visionary in its response to the undesirable situation of deciding among the unchecked growth of unregulated dispensaries, an unpopular war on drugs crackdown or the uncharted territory of municipal regulation of cannabis.
Fortune favours the bold, and city councillors’ boldness has put them in an enviable position as legalization approaches.
Adam Carmichael was recently awarded a PhD in political science from the University of Victoria.
