The town of Tecumseh, Ontario has approved zoning requirements to accommodate a medical marijuana facility.
The re-zoning of the land was requested by the current owner so they can sell it to Global Organiks, a grower that wants to build a steel structure and hire as many as 27 people.
According to Global Organiks spokesperson Joe Fenech the proposed facility will produce around 50,000 grams of medical marijuana every month. Global Organiks still needs to apply for approval from Health Canada, which Fenech estimates could take up to 18 months.
But not everyone is happy with the vote, town councillor Mike Rohrer voted in opposition to the plan. Rohrer said he’s against, “the idea of dangling jobs as a reason to support this,” and would prefer to see something else at that location.
“I won’t support the re-zoning and I think there are much more attractive job creators that we can attract to the town of Tecumseh than a marijuana facility,” said Rohrer. “There’s an overabundance of this stuff. I think it’s being abused, it’s being over-prescribed, it sends a bad message to our young people.”
According to Fenech, these attitudes on the medical marijuana industry are outdated.
“The federal government has approved this and the Supreme Court has approved it, so it is a new industry,” said Fenech. “It’s here. It’s here to stay.”