Manitoba set to remove province’s ban on growing cannabis

As Manitobans gear up to mark 4/20 on Saturday, CityNews has learned that Manitoba’s NDP government is set to drop the ban on growing cannabis at home.

The province is expected to announce the change next week, and if it does, will leave Quebec as the only province in the country to have a similar prohibition.

“I think the whole industry really does want to see change around homegrown policies,” said Melanie Bekevich, the vice-president of the Retail Cannabis Council of Manitoba and co-owner of Mistik Cannabis.

Jesse Lavoie is the founder of TobaGrown, an advocacy organization that took the province to court over its ban. Manitoba’s Court of King’s Bench upheld the ban, but the organization is appealing the decision.

“The federal government allowed all Canadians the right to grow four plants we would like to see our province be in line with that and not criminalize something that is legal,” said Lavoie.

Even if the Manitoba government goes ahead with dropping the homegrown ban, advocates are also calling on the province to scrap the ban on smoking marijuana publicly.

“If you are perhaps a renter and your landlord doesn’t allow you to consume on their property then where do you consume?” asked Bekevich.

While it’s been over five years since marijuana was legalized in Canada, some say both provincial and federal laws such as taxation, advertising and packaging still lead to further stigmatization while also preventing the legal market from doing well.

“It’s our fifth 4/20 being in business. We are very excited about the day we would certainly love to encourage all Manitobans to have fun, but to be safe,” said Bekevich.