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Neighbours in Fontainebleau who endured a “24-hour skunk smell” wafting from a backyard filled with legal tree-like cannabis plants last year, are fearing a repeat this growing season.
That’s because a report on cannabis odours — prompted by their petition and a council question by Ward 8 Coun. Gary Kaschak — is suggesting a cautious approach to any sort of clampdown on backyard growers. The report from the city’s legal department recommends waiting to see the outcomes of a legal challenge to Leamington’s cannabis regulation bylaw as well as an ongoing review by Health Canada of its regulatory framework for people growing pot for medical reasons. Health Canada acknowledges that framework “is in need of retooling,” says the city report which goes to council Monday.
The average daily quantity of weed authorized for people licensed to use it for medical reasons is two grams if you’re purchasing it from federally licensed suppliers. But if you’re growing it yourself, or having someone else grow it for you, the average authorized amount swells to 36 grams. That equates to 176 indoor plants or 69 outdoor plants, according to the report.
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Susan Hirota, senior legal counsel at the city who authored the report, said the feds don’t put a limit on how much medical cannabis people need. The person gets medical documentation suggesting how many grams he or she requires and that’s plugged into a formula to determine how many plants can be grown. And some locations grow for more than one person, resulting in hundreds and even thousands of plants.
“I don’t get the sense that people who are growing four plants (for recreational use) cause a lot of odour issues,” she said. “I think it’s when it gets to hundreds of plants that the odour is escaping.”
It appears such a generous Health Canada allowance, combined with the horticultural talents of some to grow plants 11 feet or higher, are what leads to a persistent neighbourhood stink.
The Fontainebleau grower is said to grow such a large quantity because he was turning it into oil for baking. Last year he had a crop of 23 huge plants — the four that any adult is allowed to grow for personal, recreational use, as well as 19 allowed under a medical marijuana licence issued by Health Canada.
In an interview Tuesday, Kaschak acknowledged that waiting to take action, as the report suggests, could cause the neighbours to go through another summer with the skunky odour driving them indoors.
“It’s a bit of a disappointment, there’s no doubt,” he said. The report notes that there have been 10 complaints about cannabis odour to the city’s 311 system, all of them concerning one property, the backyard in Fontainebleau.
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“But this one is certainly concerning to neighbours,” Kaschak said. “It’s affecting their quality of life with the smells.”
Residents who’ve been complaining about the odours don’t want to be identified, citing bad blood that’s developed with the grower.
“It’s a 24-hour skunk smell all the time, it’s horrendous and you’ve got weed growing three feet over the fence,” which is an invitation for the criminal element to enter the neighbourhood looking to swipe some cannabis, said one resident who said his wife was urging him last summer to move. But how do you sell a house when potential buyers step out of their car and catch a whiff of the cannabis operation, he asked.
“It’s all summer, all summer. We have to run the air conditioning all the time because we can’t open the windows.
“I might as well get a pet skunk.”
Cannabis rights advocate Leo Lucier, who visited the “jungle-like” backyard last year and even took a video of the massive plants which he said rose as high as 18 feet, said the complaining residents are making too big a deal of the odour. “You’re going to have complainers and Karens wherever you go,” he said.
He said the smell is simply a byproduct of the plant growing. “It’s not harmful, by far.” He said thousands of Windsorites are growing plants legally in their yards.
“For the City of Windsor to try to do a bylaw, they’re kicking a dead horse because it will be challenged,” he warned.
Indeed, the administration report warns that a bylaw restricting or prohibiting the legal cultivation of cannabis “is vulnerable to challenge.” The challenge of Leamington’s bylaw — which was intended to control odours from greenhouse operations, not backyard gardens — may be the first such bylaw to be challenged in court.
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“From a risk perspective, it may be preferable to await the court’s decision on Leamington’s bylaw and/or the outcome of Health Canada’s public consultation before proceeding with a City of Windsor bylaw,” the report recommends.
Kaschak said while the administration report doesn’t recommend actions that would quickly resolve the neighbours’ complaints, there are some potentially good ideas that will take time to flesh out.
The Town of Pelham, for example, passed an Odorous Industries Nuisance Bylaw last year that applies to all cannabis cultivation except people growing four plants for recreation. The town has purchased $5,000 Nasal Rangers (field olfactometers) that can measure the strength of odour coming from farm properties and requires growers to use air filtration systems. Kaschak is also hopeful the city can learn something from the legal challenge of Leamington’s bylaw, and that Health Canada will tighten up its regulations to reduce the volume that medical growers are allowed.
“I don’t think everything was thought out as well as it could be,” when cannabis was legalized, he said. “But it’s here, it’s legal and now we’re going to have to make some rules and bylaws to help people out.”
