It’s only a matter of time before White Rock has a medicinal-marijuana dispensary within its city limits, says one advocate.
And Randy Caine says the community has a right to weigh in on what such an operation should look like, and not have the ins and outs simply imposed on them.
Caine, owner of Hempyz on Marine Drive, said he will appear as a delegation before city council next Monday to ask the city to sanction a pilot project for a medicinal-marijuana dispensary. An event June 8 at White Rock Library was to get an idea of what people think that should look like.
“My sense is it’s going to come into your community one way or another,” Caine told Peace Arch News. “It allows everybody in White Rock to have a say.”
‘Medical Marijuana: Is it right for you… Is it right for the community’ took place 7-8:30 p.m. at the library, 15342 Buena Vista Ave.
Caine described it as an opportunity for “very candid, very open discussion” on the issue.
He said the issue is not being handled well in Vancouver, where the federal health minister has urged the city to shut down all local pot dispensaries rather than regulate them. The central argument against is that the storefront dispensaries normalize and encourage pot use for teens who are more vulnerable to its risks.
While B.C.’s provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall agreed developing young minds shouldn’t be exposed to pot – or alcohol or other drugs – he has defended the value of marijuana as a medicine.
In a recent interview with Black Press, Kendall described “a growing body of evidence” that cannabis is effective as an appetite stimulant, an anti-nauseant and as a chronic-pain killer, including against spastic neurological conditions such as ALS.
Caine noted that feedback on last year’s arrival of a Releaf Compassion Centre in White Rock – run by his daughter, Tara Caine, to provide public consultation and act as a liaison for medical-marijuana purchasers – bodes well for a dispensary. The only complaint he’s heard regarding the centre is that it does not have a dispensary component.
“There does appear to be a clear and certain need,” Caine said.
