NDP set to scrap homegrown pot ban

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This article was published 23/04/2024 (517 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s NDP government is poised to lift the ban on growing recreational cannabis at home, a move that a Brandon man who used to grow his own under a medical licence says is long overdue.

A government bill on the order paper — the Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Control Amendment Act — that New Democratic Party Justice Minister Matt Wiebe is expected to introduce this week will eliminate the restriction, the Winnipeg Free Press has confirmed.

When the federal government decriminalized cannabis possession in 2018, the federal Cannabis Act allowed adults to cultivate up to four cannabis plants per household for recreational use.

Four months later, Manitoba’s government, then led by the Progressive Conservatives, amended provincial legislation to ban homegrown pot for recreational use. The province said at the time the ban was an important part of its approach to regulate and control access to cannabis and protect the public. The NDP government is now lifting that ban.

“It’s about time,” said Brandon cannabis user Neil Longbottom.

“It shouldn’t have been banned in the first place. Everyone else in Canada was allowed to grow except for Manitoba and Quebec. It’s been quite a few years since legalization now and have we heard of anybody getting in trouble for selling any of their four plants? As far as I know, the answer to that is zero.”

After the Tories’ decision, the Sun reported on Longbottom’s attempts to change the government’s mind. A former recreational user of cannabis, Longbottom turned to medicinal use to address a bladder issue.

While he was able to secure a prescription, the cost of cannabis pre-legalisation was high enough that he eventually went through the effort of jumping through all the hoops necessary to be given permission to grow medical cannabis at home.

At the time, he said it would have been much easier for Manitoba to just allow home growing than for him to seek permission.

Eventually, Longbottom gave up growing his own. While he was able to grow medical cannabis, he had to do it inside. Spending nine weeks growing his plants and taking care of them in a limited amount of living space was a lot of effort when he could just go to a retail outlet.

“I’ve seen an ounce of cannabis as cheap as $69.99,” he said. “So, if you can go to a retail, legal store to buy cannabis and you can buy an ounce for $69.99, why would I spend eight to nine weeks fighting with growing it myself?”

Longbottom is hopeful Manitoba will allow residents to grow their plants outside. That would be enough to entice him back into growing his own. He’d also like to know when exactly the ban will end.

He’s also hopeful that the move would allow for easier access to seeds. While things like grow lights have been easy enough to find, Longbottom said he had to turn to the black market to find his first batch of seeds back in the day.

“There was a stipulation that when you grow for the first time, they didn’t care if you bought seeds or clones from the black market,” he said. “You could do it to get your initial growth going, Health Canada didn’t care, but after you’re licensed you had to stop.”

Jesse Lavoie, a cannabis advocate who also works in the industry, took the matter of the ban to court, arguing the ban was unconstitutional and infringed on federal jurisdiction. A Court of King’s Bench judge upheld the ban in October, saying the provincial government’s objective to protect health and safety fell under its jurisdiction.

Lavoie, who runs the advocacy organization TobaGrown, is challenging the King’s Bench decision in the Court of Appeal. The appeal remains open, but Lavoie said Saturday he expects the Manitoba government to settle the matter.

He said he plans to “grow four big trees” of cannabis when the restriction is lifted.

“We’ve been working with the NDP for a while now to come to an agreement to settle outside of court,” Lavoie said of the lawsuit.

He had heard legislation to spike the restriction was expected in the coming weeks. Once it’s made law, Lavoie said, his organization’s lawyers will adjourn the appeal.

“It’s been a long four years of legal conflict with the Manitoba government, and it feels great to now be working with them on a settlement and not have to go back to court. We feel great over here,” Lavoie said. “We’re just very excited.”

He said challenging the Manitoba ban has been his “life for the past four years.”

Steven Stairs, founder of the Cannabis Business Association of Manitoba and a longtime legalization advocate, said the lifting of the restriction is a good thing. However, he wants more to be done for the industry and recreational users.

“It’s a great step forward. It’s a great step toward equalization, toward equitable cannabis law across the country, following suit with federal laws. But it doesn’t move the needle very much for sustainability for industry changes,” he said Saturday while at an annual 4/20 pro-cannabis protest event.

“It’ll allow retail stores to carry some seeds — great, more revenue. But the vast majority of Manitobans won’t be able to grow cannabis anyway.”

Stairs said he thinks many renters, or those who live in condominiums or within homeowner’s associations, will be barred from growing cannabis because of rules in the places they live.

“Unless you own your own home outright,” Stairs said, adding he has heard of restrictions over cannabis growing included in mortgage contracts. “This isn’t a blanket win for everybody, but it is a social win. I just wish they could do more.”

Stairs said he would like to see cannabis consumption allowed in sanctioned public spaces and drop the age of legal consumption from 19 to 18, in line with alcohol and tobacco.

“These are simple steps that would make it fair and equitable,” he said.

Stairs said he would like to see the province scrap its requirement for cannabis stores to cover shop windows, reduce or restructure the PST on cannabis products, and allow retailers to operate on a credit system with suppliers instead of having to purchase inventory outright.

He also took issue with the ongoing issue of black market cannabis dealers, which he said officials have not properly addressed.

The pre-set fine amount for growing non-medical cannabis at home is $2,542 — the same as the fine for supplying cannabis to people under 19.

The ban on homegrown cannabis was not a major point of last year’s provincial election campaign. However, cannabis-industry publications reported in the fall that the NDP opposed the ban.

The NDP won a majority government in the Oct. 3 election.

» erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca and cslark@brandonsun.com