A Chatham property is one of seven in Chatham-Kent to be given the green light on possibly becoming a medical marijuana production facility.
Chatham-Kent council gave unanimous approval on Monday to allow medical marijuana production as an additional permitted use at the 12.48-acre parcel located at 715 Richmond Street. The property also includes a vacant 196,450-square-foot industrial building.
A staff report states the property owner has an interest in establishing a production facility at the site.
“The Health Canada regulations aim to manage marijuana as much as possible like any other narcotic used for medical purposes by creating conditions for a new, commercial industry that is responsible for its production and distribution,” a staff report states.
“The regulations provide access to quality-controlled marijuana for medical purposes, produced under secure and sanitary conditions, to those Canadians who need it, while strengthening the safety of Canadian communities. In addition, the new regulations will also provide more choices of marijuana strains and commercial suppliers.”
Two properties in Wallaceburg have gone through a similar approval process.
A property on Mason Street and Baseline Road in Wallaceburg, received approval from council to potentially be used for a medical marijuana production facility back in January of 2015.
A property at 6850 Base Line in Wallaceburg received the same council approval in July of 2014.
Kim Cooper, the agricultural specialist for Chatham-Kent’s economic development department, told us in July of 2014 that the process is a long one for a facility to actually get approved.
“It is quite a process and it is really regulated under Health Canada, they are the ones that are regulating medical marijuana,” he said. “The process for a company to actually grow medical marijuana is quite in depth and quite involved. The company first of all has to have a facility. Health Canada has outlined how it is suppose to be set up, as far as security, it requires 24-hour security, inside the facility you need a vault where you keep the goods. The last thing they want to happen is any type of break-ins.”
Cooper added the people putting their names forward to run these companies have to go through an extensive security check with the RCMP.
“Even the families of the people need to go through some sort of security check,” Cooper said. “It’s a very lengthy process, very in depth. Understandably, Health Canada wants to ensure these operations are legit and are going to operate well. They have to have a good business plan.”
Cooper said he couldn’t put a number on it, but any of the proposed medical marijuana production facilities would create jobs.
“There is jobs… the growing of the operation, the managing of the operation, the whole selling process,” he said.
“There are jobs but it really depends on the applicant and how big their application is. There is no set requirement that this has to be a 5,000 sq. foot facility or a 10,000 sq. foot facility. Each applicant has their own business plan and how large the medical marijuana facility is. As far as jobs, because all of this is brand new we don’t really know, even the applicants don’t really know how many people they need. Certainly, it will create jobs for sure.”
Previously published reports indicate there is a potential to create approximately 50 jobs at the facility in Chatham if it moves forward.
– Photo credit: Municipality of Chatham-Kent
