The city’s planning committee has asked staff to revisit proposed amendments to zoning bylaws to permit some medical marijuana facilities to operate in areas of the city where regular drugstores are located.

“If we can distribute methadone and Oxycontin that way, why can’t we distribute medical marijuana that way as long as they adhere to the federal guidelines,” Councillor Adam Vaughan said Monday during the committee’s meeting. “We’re unnecessarily stigmatizing this drug which is extraordinarily useful for certain types of illnesses and disabilities.”

Councillor Karen Stintz agreed and said the bylaw should be written in a way that is consumer oriented.

“If this product is legally available for certain types of clients then it’s our obligation to make the most accessible process that it can be,” she said. Starting April 1, legal medical marijuana will only be available through producers approved by Health Canada.

Previously, licensed medical marijuana users were able to grow their own cannabis, purchase from special licence holders or from the government’s sole supplier.

Toronto city staff is proposing zoning bylaw changes to conform with the new federal regulations. Their recommendations call for all medical marijuana facilities not to be located within 70 metres of residentially zoned areas.

The committee suggested staff, instead, accommodate medical marijuana facilities that serve only as “storefronts” where no product is present. Under Ottawa’s new regime, a medical marijuana users must present their prescription in person but the product then has to be delivered from the supplier.

The planning committee will consider the revised report at its next meeting Feb. 27.