Federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose is critical of the City of Vancouver's plan to regulate marijuana dispensaries. She spoke to On the Coast's Stephen Quinn about this issue on Friday. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)

The City of Vancouver's plan to regulate marijuana dispensaries across the city has drawn criticism from Federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose.

On Friday, Ambrose was interviewed by On the Coast host Stephen Quinn.

Note: This interview has been condensed for online.

• Vancouver pot shops should be shut down, says Rona Ambrose

Does marijuana not have value as a medicine?

It's important that people know that marijuana is not a medicine. It has not been approved by Health Canada as a medicine.

Why create a regime to produce it and distribute it and allow people to use it for medicinal purposes?

The courts ruled about 10 years ago that said certain Canadians should have access to dry marijuana if they believed this was something that helped them...there is a regime in place that is administered by Health Canada only because it affects our legislation that is very highly regulated. It is a regime that is very robust that is overseen by the medical community and it will provide dry marijuana to people who believe they need it and that's in consultation with the physician.

If it were not for those court decisions then, the Federal Government would not allow people who want to use marijuana for medicinal use, you would not allow that period?

No, Health Canada would definitely not in any way have anything to do with this. What the research and science shows conclusively is that marijuana is bad for kids, especially harmful to the developing brain.

For the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of users of marijuana in Canada who say that they use it for medicinal purposes, that it provides relief not found with other drugs, are they making that up?

It's not for me to say. I'm not a researcher. I'm not a scientist. My real focus is kids. One of the reasons I have appealed to the Mayor of Vancouver to shut down these storefronts is that I think it sends a bad message to our youth...by having marijuana being sold in storefronts is a terrible signal to young people.

The groups that support legalization or decriminalization all say it's time to control marijuana, to regulate it, to tax it, to legalize it in one way or another. Why not heed the advice of all of these organizations?

Our government stance is clear, we do not support legalization. I would not support a Justin Trudeau Canada, where what's happening in downtown Vancouver [is repeated elsewhere] where pot dispensaries are opening up on corners. They are not regulated. Pot is illegal right now, unless you are through the medical marijuana program of Health Canada.

How much money is spent on enforcement of marijuana laws across the country every year?

I can't tell you that. I don't know. All I know is that marijuana is very, very harmful to youth...and that's why we have spent money on an ad campaign and we will continue to do that. I mean, Colorado just spent $17 million on a public health campaign targeting youth about the dangers of marijuana. I think legalization is the wrong way to go. I think it will increase access for young people. It normalizes it and I just don't think it is worth it.

If you are worried about young people using drugs, why is the majority of the money that is dedicated to your National Enforcement Anti-Drug Strategy spent on enforcement then rather than prevention and treatment?

That is not true. In fact a lot of the funds that we invest are focused, especially in the aboriginal youth community, on prescription drug abuse in particular on prevention and treatment...and we just finished launching a $7 million public health awareness campaign around prescription drug use and marijuana use by young people...we just received a report that the numbers are going down in terms of use of marijuana among young people.

There's a poll from 2014 that says 37 per cent of Canadians would like to see marijuana legalized, 33 per cent would like to see it decriminalized.  Does that put you out of step with what the majority of Canadians think?

I'm not worried about polls. I'm worried about the fact that a lot of our facilities that deal with mental health and addiction have young people with serious mental health issues from smoking marijuana. I do not support this idea of mass commercialisation in cities, which is what I assumed the resolution that the mayor and council of Vancouver wants to look at and its exactly what Justin Trudeau wants to do in terms of legalizing marijuana across the country.

To listen to the full interview with Rona Ambrose, listen to the audio labelled Ambrose Q & A

Map of Vancouver's pot shops

Note: CBC created this map after pulling together a list of marijuana-related businesses from various sources, including Leafly and the businesses' own websites. The City of Vancouver declined to provide CBC with the full list.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

來源：Vancouver Sun 2014-08-12

By Tara Carman

Two Vancouver hookah shop owners have lost their fight to allow customers to smoke water pipes in their establishments following a B.C. provincial court ruling.

The ruling, issued Monday, upholds the City of Vancouver’s bylaw prohibiting smoking in business premises and common areas. Justice William F.W. Yee also found two Vancouver hookah café owners, Abdolabbas Abdiannia of Ahwaz Hookah House and Abdolhamid Mohammadian of the Persian Tea House, guilty of breaching the bylaw by allowing patrons to smoke hookah pipes.

Council passed the bylaw in October 2007, initially including an exemption for hookah and cigar lounges, but removed the exemption nine months later. Shortly after, the two men were warned by the city to cease operation as hookah lounges or face prosecution.

Provincial tobacco control legislation stipulates that hookah bars could still operate as long as they don’t use tobacco or tobacco blends, so both businesses switched to tobacco-free herbal shisha, a mixture of various herbs and molasses, in an effort to comply with the law.

The case centred on to what degree hookahs and the second-hand smoke they produce constitute a threat to public health.

Lawyer Dean Davison, who represented the business owners, argued that the city did not provide evidence of harm from smoking herbal shisha or the second-hand smoke it produces. He also argued that because the herbal product in the pipe is never lit or burning, it doesn’t constitute smoking.

The ban on hookah smoking also infringes on religious and cultural rights, as the practice is closely linked to some Muslim activities and is particularly prevalent after Friday prayers, the defence argued.

The city argued that hookah smoking poses a significant health risk, and Yee agreed, giving particular weight to the testimony of two doctors who outlined the health concerns for both consumers and those who inhale second-hand smoke.

“These health risks include respiratory problems and acute cardiovascular events such as heart attacks, as well as cancer,” Yee wrote, noting that Dr. Milan Khara of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority’s tobacco control program described the smoke produced by a hookah as a “toxicant soup.”

Yee also rejected the cultural argument, noting that hookah smoking is only indirectly linked to the Muslim religion and individuals are still free to do so in their homes.

Davison called the decision well-reasoned, but said his clients are disappointed and plans to meet with them later this week to discuss next steps.

“They want to comply with the law as it stands and I think that they will seriously think about appealing.”

The men face fines of between $250 and $2,000, but Davison said they would ask the court for a stay in the event of an appeal.

Canadian Cancer Society spokeswoman Megan Klitch said she is “extremely pleased” that the court upheld the City of Vancouver’s bylaw and encouraged other cities to enact similar rules.

“It’s a significant public health victory,” she said.

tcarman@vancouversun.com

Follow me: @TaraJCarman

B.C. municipalities that prohibit hookah smoking:

Anmore

Belcarra

Delta

Duncan

Mission

Nakusp

Pemberton

Port Coquitlam

Salmon Arm

Vancouver

West Vancouver

Source: Canadian Cancer Society

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

來源：加西網 2015-05-02

(加西網綜合)對於大多數華人家長來說，當然最重視孩子們的學業，讓人心塞除了那個學校中性廁所之外，就是加國的大麻管理問題了。溫哥華市府周五公布了溫哥華經營大麻業務的藥房不完全名單，其中40%離學校和社區中心僅300米遠。

市府於周五（5月2日）公布了溫哥華84家涉及大麻的商店，並承認名單並不完整。
 

 
溫哥華近日又宣布正在尋找新的規則，規範蓬勃發展的大麻零售業，其中包括3萬元的許可費，以保證執法的成本。

市府聲明指："在過去兩年，溫哥華大麻業務每年都翻倍成長 ... [going] 單單在過去的4個月就從60增到80。"  

聲明也指，最近幾年溫哥華醫藥大麻店變成公眾場所，很少有法規對此進行規範。 

城市公關經理Tobin Postma在給CBC的郵件中表示，市府僅僅“通過業務改進協會、居民和公眾的查詢或投訴（311）、有時通過查詢牌照運營商”才能得知取藥位置。

市府於周五公布溫哥華84家涉及大麻的藥房，而CBC確定的名單總計有91個藥房，包括89家營業店，另外兩家暫被吊牌。

根據市府提出大麻管理法規，要求大麻商戶至少距離學校、社區鄰里等中心至少有300米。

家長都來看看，你孩子的學校離這些經營大麻的商戶到底有多遠：a marijuana business near you and its proximity to a school or community centre.