-by Anne Finlay-Stewart

Collectively the city's books of evidence – by-laws, provincial acts, federal regulations and expert credentials – were more than a foot thick. By contrast Dustin McGregor held a folder with a dozen or so pages of notes to which he referred. Two members of the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) had come to Owen Sound council chambers to hear McGregor's appeal of the city's zoning by-laws regarding a proposed medical marijuana facility.

McGregor has no personal stake in the marijuana business in Owen Sound.
He says he is not a smoker nor a grower, and has no medical prescription to use the drug. And he has made it very clear that he was not opposing the concept nor the development of the medical marijuana plant being built by Canadian Bioceutical Corporation on the former PPG property in Owen Sound's industrial park.

"On the contrary," McGregor said prior to the hearing, "I have had email exchanges with Scott Boyes [president of Canadian Bioceutical] on a number of occasions, stating that I would withdraw the appeal if it were in any way interfering with the progress of his business."

So what was the reasoning behind McGregor's appeal of Owen Sound's zoning by-law that added marijuana production to the permitted land uses in a few proscribed areas of the city?

Primarily McGregor said he was concerned that there was no provision in the by-law for those people growing for personal therapeutic use.

"I took a gamble when I filed this appeal," McGregor told the OMB members , "that a case in the B.C. Federal court would be settled by now." That case is a challenge to changes the federal government made to the medical marijuana system last year. Formerly, under the Medical Marihuana Access Regulations (MMRA), a person prescribed medical marijuana by a physician could be authorized to grow their own medication or designate someone else to grow it for them, and have access to seeds. The new Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR), ostensibly designed to prevent abuse of the system, has once again made it illegal for patients to grow their own, allowing only large commercial facilities to meet the criteria for licences to grow the plants and handle seed.
Previous courts have upheld the opinion that it is unconstitutional not to allow patients to grow their own medical marijuana, and McGregor believes the B.C. decision may well do the same. He would like a commitment from the city that if the Supreme Court allows it, will there will be an exemption from this zoning by-law to allow for personal production.

"There was a secondary economic issue," McGregor said, "also predicated on a recent Supreme Court decision." In June of this year, the Supreme Court opened the door to medical products such as cannabis oils, tinctures, creams, and foods in its decision on the case of Owen Smith. The court wrote that "inhaling marihuana can have health risks and that it is less effective for some conditions than administration of cannabis derivative" and "that the prohibition of non-dried forms of medical marihuana limits liberty and security of the person in a manner that is arbitrary and hence is not in accord with the principles of fundamental justice", violating section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Although amendments to the regulations have yet to be made, Canadian Bioceuticals has expanded its original plans at almost triple the cost to include the manufacture of several cannabis derivatives.

McGregor offered the argument that under the anticipated new regulations, much smaller processing plants, without related growing facilities, are potential new businesses for Owen Sound. Restricting medical marijuana to industrial areas, he said, unnecessarily limits this potential. Quoting from the city's strategic plan, McGregor said the restrictions conflicted with its vocabulary - "Welcoming, caring, sustainable, entrepreneurial, collaborative, choices".

Although McGregor was unsuccessful in his appeal, he has no regrets. Recognizing that in his primary social justice argument he was relying on a case that has not yet been ruled on, he anticipated the outcome. However he expects the city to address any changes to the MMPR "with the health of some of their most vulnerable citizens at heart." The business issue? That remains to be seen.

Marijuana, medical and otherwise, will continue to be a topic of interest for The Hub, through court decisions, the federal election and the development of local production. Follow it here.