Carman Town Council has approved the retail sale of cannabis in the community when it becomes legal next July.

"It's not a morality issue from our perspective," explained Mayor, Bob Mitchell, "because the Feds have already decided that they're going to legalize marijuana, the Province has already decided how the distribution and sale is going to work and all we can do is determine if we're going to allow sales...and how we're going to deal with that."

Mitchell added there have already been some thoughts on how the Town would regulate local retail sales, including where the outlets can be located, and said it makes sense to have the Carman-Dufferin Planning District look after setting the guidelines to fit with the local development plan.

Meantime, some municipalities have expressed frustration at being saddled with the responsibility of deciding whether to allow the sale of marijuana in their communities. However, Mitchell feels this is no different than what's been done in the past with alcohol sales in Manitoba.

"The Town of Carman, in 1956 and 1964, passed bylaws to allow for the sale of alcohol within the town boundaries and every municipality has that right within the Municipal Act. That's basically what they're saying now."

Last Monday, Mitchell was part of a local delegation that attended a special meeting of the Pembina Valley Reeves and Mayors group that gathered to explore a regional approach to the impending legislation and the related Excise Tax that's been proposed by the Federal government.

Although Carman isn't a part of PV-RAM, Mitchell said local leaders felt it was important to participate in the discussion. He noted it was good to hear the concerns shared by other communities in the region, as well as the areas where they differ.

For example, Mitchell doesn't expect the cannabis legislation will increase Carman's policing costs as the community is patrolled by the federally-funded RCMP. He added however, this is a concern for communities like Morden, Winkler and Altona because they run their own policing services.

Meantime, he is unsure of how legalization it will impact how much communities pay for awareness, prevention, and addiction programming.