Pubdate: Tue, 04 Feb 2014
Source: Daily Observer, The (Pembroke, CN ON)
Copyright: 2014 Pembroke Daily Observer
Contact: http://www.thedailyobserver.ca/letters
Website: http://www.thedailyobserver.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2615
Author: Daniel Proussalidis

MARIJUANA COMING TO STORES?

MP Sends Flier to Constituents Slamming Trudeau's Plan to Legalize Pot

OTTAWA - The Tories are trying to smoke out some details about 
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau's promise to legalize marijuana if his 
party forms government.

Conservative MP John Williamson has sent constituents in his New 
Brunswick riding a flyer that slams Trudeau's policy, saying the 
"Liberals plan to sell marijuana in N.B. stores."

"I'm trying to take Trudeau's argument to its logical conclusion," 
Williamson said Monday. "If the point is not to make marijuana 
available in stores, what's the point of legalizing it?"

Williamson also says a black market has existed for years around 
legal tobacco, so he doesn't see why smugglers would give marijuana a 
pass after legalization.

"We'll see the exact same thing with pot, and it will be available in 
schoolyards," he said.

Trudeau announced last summer that he supports legalization of 
marijuana in order to regulate the drug and keep it out of the hands of kids.

Speaking in Steinbach, Man., last September, the Liberal leader said 
he'd want to see marijuana controlled in "the same way we regulate, 
or even maybe even slightly tougher than alcohol."

Liberal justice critic Sean Casey insists that doesn't necessarily 
mean Canadians would be able to pop into a convenience store to pick 
up some weed.

"What that's going to look like at the end of the day, I don't know," 
Casey said. "I honestly don't know and I don't think we should 
prejudge the outcome."

Casey objects to Williamson's flyers, saying the Conservatives 
misrepresent Liberal policy.

"Look, they have a one-page playbook: It's attack," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom