Lloydminster is waiting patiently for the Saskatchewan Government to release its framework and legislation on cannabis after the Alberta Government released there’s last week.
The Border City has two government’s regulating cannabis and Mayor Gerald Aalbers says that council will do its best to find a middle ground, but there are still federal and provincial regulations out of the City’s control.
“We could see the Government of Saskatchewan come out at a 150 meters as an example from schools, province of Alberta is at 100, we could come out at 150 or 200 or whatever city council deems they feel is appropriate for our community.”
In Alberta, cannabis shops that open will have to be at least 100 meters away from any schools. The regulations also states that the legal age to consume and purchase cannabis will be 18 and that there will be provisions of where marijuana can be consumed.
There is one issue that is still being decided on and that is the amount of licenses being handed out in the province. Aalbers says that Alberta will have 250 licenses available to start, but he doesn’t know what that will mean for the city. He adds that council has the ability to determine the cost of licensing fees for businesses who want to operate a cannabis shop.
In order to obtain a retail cannabis license the Alberta Government says that all applicant will have to go through a mandatory background check. Councillor Jonathan Torresan says there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in determines of business licensing, but that he would like to see the fees be directed towards preventing illegal cannabis use.
“I would prefer to see some of the business licensing fess be directed at some of the capital costs for the RCMP for testing equipment and also for the additional requirements they’re going to have related to legalized cannabis.”
The City is expecting some regulations and framework from the Saskatchewan Government on cannabis in March.
