A call by supporters of medicinal marijuana dispensaries in Kelowna for city council to come up with its own policies to allow dispensaries to operate here has fallen on deaf ears.
Following a small rally by pro-pot supporters Monday afternoon outside city hall, Mayor Colin Basran dismissed the call, saying the issue is one of federal jurisdiction and until Ottawa changes the rules, the city will not issue business licences to dispensaries because they are illegal.
“Until the federal government changes the rules, we will be continue to uphold the existing law,” said Basran.
And he also brushed off an announced plan at the rally to inundate his office with phone calls this week from dispensary supporters.
Basran said while he is happy to speak with anyone about the issue, clogging his office switchboard will not change his mind.
Instead, he advised the dispensary supporters to lobby the federal government to change the current law.
While some other B.C. municipalities, such as Vancouver and Victoria, have introduced their own policies to allow medical marijuana dispensaries, and others, such as Vernon and West Kelowna, are doing nothing to shut them down, one dispensary was shut sown earlier this year in the city and when new owner took over, she was told them not to reopen.
The Kaya Clinic, as it was known then, was raided in April. Now known as the Okanagan Kaya Clinic, it’s new owner Kaja Gjesdal, who was involved with the clinic when it was open before, said she would like it to start selling medicinal marijuana again.
At the rally, she said she has 400 clients who depend on her clinic to get their medical marijuana and she wants to help them. But right now she can only try to answer their questions.
“We’re open for information only,” she said of the clinic, located on Lawrence Avenue downtown.
An anxiety sufferer, Gjesdal said marijuana has helped her and she has seen it help others with varied medical problems.
“”I know it works,” she said, adding she does not want to break the law and is appealing to council to follow Vancouver’s lead and come up with its own policies to allow dispensaries like hers to remain open.
Another man at the rally, who would only give his first nam, said he is living proof medical marijuana oil can help with the symptoms associated with the cancer he has been fighting for 14 years.
Bob, 81, lives in 100-Mile House and was in town visiting a friend when he heard about the rally. He said he cannot get medical marijuana in his town but was told he could get it in Kelowna.
He refused to say where he gets his marijuana now but said he would like to be able to get it from a dispensary.
The rally also drew representatives of Sensible B.C., which wants to seen marijuana decriminalized in this province.
Director and spokesman Dana Larson said the federal government’s new rules about the production and sale of medical marijuana have been a “disaster,” and the courts have struck down some of Ottawa’s moves on the issue. He blasted federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose for publicly saying marijuana had not health benefits.
He suggested the phone-calls to Basran and said he would like to see Kelowna not only come up with its own policies but have them adopted by other cities.
“I’d like people to speak of a made-in-Kelowna solution to this issue,” he said.
Medical marijuana dispensary supporters would also like to get a meeting with the mayor or appear before council.
But Basran said while he is willing to speak with them, requesting an appearance before council will not fly.
“That is against our procedure bylaw,” he said.
About 35 people showed up for the pro-pot rally Monday, some openly smoking joints as they waved to passing motorists, many of whom honked their horns in support.
The protesters vowed to be back at city hall next week.
