About one month ago, we reported on Randy Caine, the owner a store called Hempyz in Langley, British Columbia, who was forced to dump his hemp stock because of local zoning laws that restricted the sale of hemp products to a particular shopping mall. Caine’s shop was in the town’s core, not at the mall.
Well, it now seems that Caine might be able to jump back into the hemp business. It seems like the town of Langley has agreed to review the bylaw for reconsideration. As the Vancouver Sun reports:
Langley City’s bylaw restricting the sale of hemp products could soon be gone.
City council has asked staff to review the bylaw, in light of an autumn spat between the municipality and Hempyz, a small store that sold a few health and beauty products containing hemp, along with gifts and novelty items emblazoned with marijuana leaves.
[...]
The motion was a late addition to the council agenda on Monday, [Nov. 24], and was approved.It calls for staff, “in light of issues that have arisen in the city with regard to the sale of products that contain legal hemp,” to review the C1 Downtown Commercial Zoning.
[...]
Staff will review the zoning and provide a report to the incoming council.
Apparently, a little education goes a long way. The story also covers how one city council member has really changed her mind about hemp. In her mind, hemp and marijuana had always been the same thing… until she looked into if for herself, that is.
Seeing a politician adopt an about-face on the issue of hemp once they looked into themselves give me hope that the North Dakota farmers have a decent chance of winning their lawsuit against the DEA so that they can finally grow hemp, and that the Australian lobbyists will succeed in legalizing hemp consumption in their country. Of course, this hope is based on the actions and statement of a small-town local politician, so we’ll have to wait and see. There’s no telling how stubborn federal government power brokers can be in either the US or Australia.