Motion seeks to restrict pot grow-ops

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This article was published 06/11/2020 (1789 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A motion targeting pot production could leave cannabis grow-operations in Winnipeg high and dry come spring 2021.

Three city councillors — Devi Sharma (Old Kildonan), Ross Eadie (Mynarski) and Janice Lukes (Waverley West) — have produced a motion requesting the public service report back to city council within 120 days, with options to regulate or prohibit the cultivation of cannabis for any purpose, including medical, in residential neighbourhoods and/or in properties that are zoned residential.

The motion is expected to appear on the agenda at the Nov. 16 meeting of the standing policy committee on property and development, heritage, and downtown development, according to Sharma. The date was unconfirmed at press time.

Eadie produced a similar motion in 2019, but the City failed to take further actions aside from writing a letter to Health Canada, he said.

“My colleagues are making it clear to the (city) administration that it’s time to get something done. And the administration agrees they dropped the ball the last round,” Eadie said.

The catalyst behind the new motion is a group of residents — primarily hailing from the Garden City and Amber Trails neighbourhoods — that have been knocking on doors and collecting signatures for a petition for a number of months.

The petition, which the Times reported on in October, calls on the City to implement a bylaw that bans large-scale medical cannabis grow-ops from residential areas.

Individuals who have obtained a prescription from a health-care practitioner may apply for a licence from Health Canada to grow medical cannabis. The number of pot plants a person may have depends on their prescription.

Residents and politicians claim pot producers are purchasing homes — some valued at approximately half-a-million dollars — and using them to grow hundreds of plants under the guise of a medical licence.

“It is an issue across the whole city,” Eadie said.

The petition outlines various potential effects of large cannabis grow-ops in houses, such as mould, fire hazards, pungent odour, declining property value, and being a target of crime and/or violence.

Eddie Calisto-Tavares, an Amber Trails resident who has been co-leading the movement, will present the petition and speak on behalf of concerned residents at the motion hearing.

Calisto-Tavares, 61, said she doesn’t think it’s enough for the City to simply regulate grow-ops and believes they should be prohibited in all residential areas.

“We don’t want regulations,” she said. “The ultimate goal is that we pass a bylaw that says no grow-ops in residential neighbourhoods.”

Calisto-Tavares said the group of petitioners will be collecting signatures until Nov. 12. Because the petition documents are divided between individuals, she couldn’t confirm the number of signatures the group has collected to date. But, in October, more than 140 people had signed the petition.

After the motion is presented, Calisto-Tavares explained, she will continue to pursue a solution at the federal level.

“We are still pushing for Health Canada to change regulations.”