Pubdate: Mon, 21 Dec 2015
Source: Record, The (Kitchener, CN ON)
Copyright: 2015 Metroland Media Group Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.therecord.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/225
Author: Keith Leslie
Page: A1

PREMIER WANTS CLEAR REGULATIONS ON POT

Medical, recreational uses different

TORONTO - Ontario is looking for federal government guidance on
regulating clinics that sell medical marijuana and on how pot should
be sold for recreational use once it's legalized.

The federal Liberals promised in this month's throne speech to
"legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana" to keep it out
of the hands of children while also denying criminals the financial
profits.

The new government plans to remove possession of small amounts of
marijuana from the Criminal Code and create new laws to more severely
punish those who provide it to minors or drive while under its influence.

Premier Kathleen Wynne says there hasn't been enough discussion about
the distinctions between medicinal and recreational marijuana.

That was one reason she suggested Ontario's government-run liquor
stores would be well-suited to retailing legalized pot. "The reason I
put forward the LCBO as the possible distribution network is that I
want to make it clear that I see the need for a socially responsible
approach to this," Wynne told The Canadian Press in a year-end interview.

"I think that this needs to be a controlled substance - and I don't
use that in a technical way - but there need to be controls on it, and
so I will be looking to the federal government to work with us to
determine what those controls need to be."

There are dozens of clinics or dispensaries springing up in cities
across Canada that sell medicinal marijuana - mainly in Ontario,
Alberta and British Columbia - and there are referral-only clinics
staffed with doctors who assess patients but don't sell pot. They give
patients a prescription to take to a licensed marijuana producer.

Canada needs national standards and regulations for the marijuana
clinics, said Wynne.

"Not all marijuana is going to be medicinal, so we've got to make
distinctions between a clinic that is providing medicinal marijuana
and what the recreational distribution is going to be," she said. "I
just don't think we're there yet."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to create a task force with
representatives from the three levels of government and, with input
from experts in public health, substance abuse and policing, to help
design a new system of marijuana sales and distribution.

Trudeau stressed the importance of listening to municipal partners,
provinces and the medical marijuana industry, as well as drawing on
best practices from around the world.

"We are going to get this right in a way that suits Canadians broadly,
and specifically in their communities."

Trudeau also said any tax revenues from legal marijuana should go
toward addiction treatment, mental health support and education
programs - not general revenues. "It was never about a money-maker,"
he said.

Wynne isn't the only one looking for a socially responsible way to
retail marijuana.

The British Columbia Government and Service Employees' Union and the
B.C. Private Liquor Store Association joined forces to call for legal
marijuana to be sold through their existing retail system, which
includes private and government-run stores.

Expectations are changing fast in Ontario, which only last week
updated its liquor laws to allow the sale of six-packs of beer in
selected grocery stores. Ontario had to back off plans to ban the use
of electronic cigarettes and vaping everywhere that smoking tobacco is
prohibited, which it planned to implement Jan. 1, after medical
marijuana users noted they would be exempted from the regulation.
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MAP posted-by: Matt