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City mulls possible medical marijuana facility sites

The rules allowing a possible medical marijuana production facility to be established were considered by the City of Charlottetown at a public meeting Wednesday night.

The federal government announced in September that it was phasing out an older system that relied on small-scale growers and replacing it with large marijuana farms that would be certified by the RCMP and produce a standardized product.

This has opened the door for large-scale companies to open in P.E.I.

The city said it's received interest from at least one private company that may want to produce medical marijuana on a large scale.

And, while it has no legal authority to stop it, staff wants to look at where in the city a prospective grower would be allowed to operate. It also is considering what conditions the facility would have to meet to open shop.

"We are not encouraging, discouraging or expressing an opinion on these facilities." Coun. Rob Lantz.

Medical marijuana users like Kat Murphy oppose the move because once small growers close, buying from a big company will be too expensive.

"I'm wondering, where is the clientele going to come from to buy this marijuana that's now going to cost about $8 to $10 a gram where some people were producing for 22 cents a gram?" said Murphy.

Medical marijuana user and grower Keith Kennedy said the city should discourage development for now because the issue of shutting down small producers remains in federal court.

"Over the past probably 13 years, I have had a production licence and I did jump through all the hoops the federal government asked."

A large operation would only be allowed to operate in some industrial parts of the city, said council.

But no applications have been submitted.