Tempers flare at public meeting on pot firm's pong
Tensions boiled over Friday at a public meeting for residents and businesses concerned about an odour coming from a medical marijuana grower operating in a former factory in northwest London.
Tensions boiled over Friday at a public meeting for residents and businesses concerned about an odour coming from a medical marijuana grower operating in a former factory in northwest London.
The Hyde Park Business Improvement Association organized the meeting, attended by Ward 7 Coun. Josh Morgan and MP Kate Young (Lib.-London West) in response to a flood of complaints that first began in the fall.
Nearly two dozen business owners and area residents filled a basement room at the Four Seasons restaurant on Fanshawe Park Road to demand politicians take immediate action against the pot-growing business.
But when neither Young nor Morgan could provide concrete steps to staunch the stink, or provide a timeline for fixing the problem, discussion grew heated.
“You come here unprepared, without any answers at all — none. It’s buck passing,” said area resident Tim Stephen.
Developer Harry Hermann also wasn’t satisfied with the lack of answers, warning the odour has both economic and health costs to area residents and businesses.
“This is ridiculous. We’re getting danced around here,” he said of the Young’s responses to the crowd’s questions.
Hermann, owner of HLH Investments, demanded an inspector be sent to ensure the North Routledge Park operation complies with Health Canada ventilation requirements.
The federal agency, which regulates production of medical marijuana, requires growers to install air filtration systems to contain odours.
“It’s very obvious it’s raw ventilation coming from the building,” Hermann said, adding the smell that gets worse in warm weather. “It’s sickening.”
A man who previously identified himself as the operator of the marijuana business told The Free Press that he grows for medicinal users and complies fully with Health Canada requirements. The man, who declined to give his name, didn’t disclose how many plants are being cultivated inside the former Spencer Steel building.
But city staff estimate it holds as many as 1,800 cannabis plants, Morgan said, noting the owner has a valid permit to grow medical marijuana.
Under Canada’s marijuana law, adults with pot prescriptions may grow their own cannabis or appoint an individual approved by Health Canada to do it for them. These growers are separate from the country’s nearly 150 commercial licensed producers, large-scale growers who supply most of Canada’s medical marijuana and all its recreational pot.
Young said she has raised the issue with an MP from Niagara, where there’s a similar problem, and with Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor, but stopped short of acceding to the crowd’s demand to bring their concerns directly to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“I know some of you have written complaint letters, and I really encourage you to do that,” Young said, prompting a backlash from the audience.
Allan Tipping, who led the fight against OrgaWorld, a south London compost giant slapped with a massive 2017 fine for foul odours, urged those in attendance to keep complaining.
“Unfortunately, you have to complain, people. You have to keep going at it,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment