Council is set to vote on a zoning by-law amendment, which would be the first step in possibly turning 6850 Base Line, in Wallaceburg into a medical marijuana production facility.
Wallaceburg Coun. Sheldon Parsons said this could be great news for Wallaceburg.
“Any opportunity to produce jobs and business growth in any of our communities in Chatham-Kent is positive,” he said. “I have no details specifically about the proposed third party interested in the facility. We’ve already had a few presentations to council in the past.”
Parsons said the “new industry” is heavily regulated by Health Canada.
“I’m confident our more senior levels of government will be taking the proper precautions to ensure the safety of the community,” he said. “These are being proposed all across the country.”
Kim Cooper, the agricultural specialist for Chatham-Kent’s economic development department, said the Wallaceburg proposal is a brand new one and he  is also already working with two companies interested in starting similar facilities in Chatham.
“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, whoever is putting their names forward to run this company, they 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. 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 companies across the country are waiting on Health Canada.
“Both companies I’m working with are waiting to hear from Health Canada,” he said. “They are the ones that give the final OK. Wherever these facilities are, they want to make sure they are in a quick distance away from the police, or fire or any emergency response. They don’t want it out in the country where it is going to be quite a time for the police or fire to get there. That is one of the other check list they have to go through.”
Cooper said the proposed by-law change for the Wallaceburg site on Baseline Road is a step in the right direction.
“If this zoning by-law amendment goes through, it is a step, but it’s a small step,” Cooper said. “The big step is getting Health Canada on board. From what I understand Health Canada has quite a few applications that they are working through and nobody really knows how many people they have working on these applications or what the turnaround is. I think they are really taking their time in reviewing these applications. There are certainly not a lot of announcement out there for who the winning applicants are.”
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.”
Council is set to vote on the zoning by-law amendment this evening.
