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Maple Ridge seeking right mix for marijuana processing

Council though cautious about new industry
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Maple Ridge is searching for a way to welcome marijuana. (THE NEWS/files)

Maple Ridge is going to see if there’s a way it can partake in pot production and reap some of the tax revenues without riling the neighbours.

Council told staff Tuesday to write up some possible bylaw amendments that will allow marijuana production and processing both within and outside the Agricultural Land Reserve.

The province in 2017 decreed that marijuana production is a legitmate farm use in the reserve which can’t be banned by cities. However, Coun. Gordy Robson said that some cities, have been able to ban such uses on farmland within their borders, though he acknowledged later that may not stand up in court.

“I want to remain cautious,” Robson said.

Coun. Kiersten Duncan agreed there’s “a great deal of concern in the community,” about marijuana processing, adding that she too was bothered that other cities seem to have been able to prohibit them.

Mayor Michael Morden said he wanted bring the grey market into legalization and wanted the smaller growers regulated.

Last fall, the previous council had asked staff to write up bylaws that would regulate pot production on farmland within Maple Ridge.

But since then, recreational pot became legal, and there are now more types of federal marijuana licences possible regarding production scales, prescription sales, processing and packaging.

In 2015, B.C. allowed production of medical marijuana to be take place on ALR land. This year, the federal government announced that it will allow pot to be grown in open fields, greenhouses or concrete warehouse-type structures as part of the legalization of recreational pot that takes place in October.

Last June, the Minister of Agriculture gave cities the power to ban concrete-based, industrial-type production of marijuana on farmland. However, marijuana still can be grown in open fields or greenhouses that still have dirt floors. The announcement doesn’t affect existing facilities.

Pitt Meadows has asked the province to ban marijuana production in the ALR.

Council made the request in a letter last July to B.C. Premier John Horgan, citing a “real sense of fear for the future of our farming community,” and calling for a moratorium on growing marijuana in such areas.