The mayor of the Township of Langley is lamenting the B.C. government’s decision not to support a municipal bylaw banning the production of medical marijuana in the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR).
“We recognize there is a need for medical (marijuana), but these are intensive operations that our council feels are better suited for industrial areas, rather than on farmland,” township Mayor Jack Froese said in a June 27 statement.
The B.C. Ministry of Agriculture announced June 24 it would not allow medical marijuana facilities to be classified as farms for tax assessment purposes.
But the ministry said it would continue to view medical marijuana production as an allowable farm use within the ALR — one that should not be prohibited by municipal bylaws.
In April, new laws went into effect dictating medical marijuana users could only purchase products from industrial-sized growers as opposed to licensed residential growers. A federal judge granted residential growers an interim injunction on that ban, allowing them to continue to grow while another court date is set to rule on the case.
In December 2013, the Township of Langley put forward a bylaw that would prohibit the production of medical marijuana in the ALR.
But as one of four municipalities in B.C. that must have agriculture ministry approval before enacting bylaws affecting farmland, the township was awaiting the province’s OK before the bylaw went into effect.
“This latest decision is unfortunate,” Froese said.
“We were looking forward to being able to control (medical marijuana facilities) in a location where they could be properly regulated.”
