Mynarski councillor wants end to high-volume personal medical cannabis production

A Winnipeg city councillor is planning to put forth a motion at an upcoming committee meeting that aims to end what he calls “light manufacturing” of medical cannabis in residential neighbourhoods.

In a release from his office, the Mynarski councillor understands that medical cannabis has become an essential medication for many people.

“But production facilities should not violate other people’s property,” Eadie said. “There are many negative issues around production of medical cannabis in and on residential property. To make it short, when the number of plants being grown indoors becomes large enough to require special ventilation systems, the certified grow operation becomes light manufacturing, not allowed in residentially zoned properties.”

Eadie’s motion stems from conversations he’s had with his constituents, some of whom are fed up the smell. Eadie said he had another situation 18 months ago where a father and his son, who suffers from asthma, were being affected by a grow-op next door, one that Eadie said had a special ventilation system.

“We need some rules here,” Eadie told the Sun on Wednesday.

Eadie’s motion states that the city has a number of by-laws that disallow property owners from having negative effects on a neighbour’s property, “such as out of control noxious weeds and inappropriate operations such as an adult service in a residential neighbourhood.”

Eadie will bring forth motion at the Lord Selkirk-West Kildonan community committee meeting on May 7.

He wants the Standing Policy Committee on Property and Development, Heritage and Downtown Development to request the Winnipeg Public Service to contact and work with Health Canada to determine what number of plant production constitutes light manufacturing; and once this number of plant production is determined, Zoning and Permits notify medical cannabis producers in residential properties that they need to arrange to produce their cannabis in M1 zoned properties.

“There’s nowhere that it’s established what would be considered light manufacturing versus growing some pot in your house,” Eadie said.

Eadie wants a number attached to the by-law and wants the public service to work with Health Canada to determine what that should be.

Under Health Canada regulations, those who have registration certificates can produce their own pot.

The limit to how much cannabis a licensed medical user can grow is based on a formula that calculates the daily amount used authorized by a doctor, average yield of a plant dependent on growing conditions, and the number of growth cycles per year.

A person who needs as little as a gram per day is allowed to grow up to five plants and store 225 grams indoors.

A person who consumes 10 grams, however, is allowed to grow 49 plants indoors and store over 2,200 grams.

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Twitter: @scottbilleck