Pubdate: Wed, 06 Jan 2016 Source: Globe and Mail (Canada) Copyright: 2016 The Globe and Mail Company Contact: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168 Author: Mike Blanchfield Page: A8 LEGALIZING POT WILL RUN AFOUL OF GLOBAL TREATIES, PM WARNED The Liberal government will have to do substantial work on the international stage before it can follow through on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's promise to legalize marijuana, new documents suggest. That work will have to include figuring out how Canada would comply with three international treaties to which the country is a party, all of which criminalize the possession and production of marijuana. Mr. Trudeau's plan to legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana is already proving a complicated and controversial undertaking on the domestic front, in part because it requires working with the provinces. Internationally, Canada will also have to find a way to essentially tell the world how it plans to conform to its treaty obligations, says a briefing note prepared for the prime minister. The note to Mr. Trudeau was obtained by The Canadian Press through the Access to Information Act. Errol Mendes, a constitutional and international law expert at the University of Ottawa, says the government faces a long, hard slog in the global arena before it can legalize pot at home. The Liberal policy means that Canada will have to amend its participation in three international conventions: the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, as amended by the 1972 Protocol; the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971; and the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988. "All three require the criminalization of possession and production of cannabis," the briefing note says. "As part of examining legalization of cannabis possession and production, Canada will need to explore how to inform the international community and will have to take the steps needed to adjust its obligations under these conventions." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom