Not on My Main Street: Zoning Marijuana Prohibition and the municipal theatre of the War on Drugs

This thesis examined the development and application of urban bylaws, in this case the City of Delta’s, which regulate properties commonly hosting growing operations or laboratories producing and handling federally-listed controlled substances such as marijuana. The project was largely exploratory and involved qualitative examination public documents such as council meetings, reports, memos and correspondence regarding Delta’s Zoning Bylaw and Controlled Substance Property Bylaw—which control how land and property are used in the municipality and impose punitive sanctions on owners and renters who infract on these regulations. Prohibitionist bylaws such as these can have disruptive consequences on the national legalization of marijuana due to these bylaws de facto continuing prohibition on the local level. The project uncovered justifications behind the ordinance—both formal and informal—and found a legal ecosystem of related municipal ordinances interacting with the (specifically those involved with medical marijuana dispensaries and production facilities), potential overlaps between bylaws as a result of higher-level changes in law as well as legal and economic consequences—such as creating favourable conditions for large agribusiness. Keywords: