Pubdate: Thu, 04 Feb 2016
Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
Copyright: 2016 The StarPhoenix
Contact:  http://thestarphoenix.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400
Author: Les MacPherson
Page: A3

IF MARIJUANA IS LEGAL IN VANCOUVER AND VICTORIA, WHY ISN'T IT IN SASKATOON?

Canada is a country, right? Canadian law is supposed to apply 
equally, everywhere, to all of us, right?

So why is marijuana openly for sale by retailers all over Vancouver 
and Victoria, while elsewhere in the country, people still are 
getting busted for a lousy joint?

That's more like two different countries than one country.

In Vancouver and Victoria, the retail business operates under the 
rubric of medical marijuana. Hardly anyone takes this medical aspect 
seriously. To buy a sack of weed, you need only present a 
prescription or facsimile thereof. It doesn't even have to be a 
prescription for medical marijuana. Show a prescription for anything 
- - an antibiotic for a sinus infection, an anti-inflammatory for a 
sprained ankle, ointment for a rash ... anything - and they will sell 
you a sack of weed. You can show them an old prescription pill bottle 
or even a picture on your iPhone of an old pill bottle and they will 
sell you a sack of weed.

Some retailers don't even need this much. I have heard of a place in 
Victoria that will sell you a sack of weed if you claim an arthritic 
thumb. Try finding someone in Victoria who doesn't have an arthritic thumb.

In other words, marijuana in those cities is practically legal. Here 
in Saskatoon, and in most other Canadian cities, marijuana still is 
treated as if the Criminal Code applies. What gives? How is it even 
close to fair for some Canadians to be arrested, handcuffed, charged 
and convicted for what other Canadians are allowed to do with impunity?

A similar hodgepodge applies in the U.S., but criminal law down there 
is the purview of individual states. That's why marijuana is legal, 
semi-legal or strictly prohibited, depending on what state you're in. 
Federal authorities, however, still embrace prohibition, so you could 
be busted in the customs corral at the Denver airport for what is 
perfectly legal just outside the gate. Aspen-bound snowboarders beware.

In Canada, the criminal law is exclusively under federal 
jurisdiction. The Criminal Code of Canada applies everywhere, to all 
Canadians, except, apparently, for the sections dealing with 
marijuana. That's why the proprietors of Saskatoon's marijuana 
dispensary are facing charges while their counterparts in Vancouver 
are politely invited to apply for municipal licences.

It is not just the criminal law where this crazy quilt applies. 
Medical authorities likewise are all over the place. In Saskatchewan, 
it reportedly is impossible to find a doctor who will prescribe 
medical marijuana. It is possible, however, to get a prescription 
here over Skype from a doctor in Vancouver. Easier still is just to 
buy from the black market and leave authorities out of the picture 
entirely, the best place for them, more often than not. Perversely, 
Saskatchewan is home to a leading, federally-licensed producer of 
medical marijuana whose product is unavailable in the province where 
it is produced because doctors here won't prescribe it. Why not is 
for them to explain to those it seems to help.

Meanwhile, in Ottawa, the governing Liberals have put a former 
Toronto police chief in charge of delivering on their promise to 
legalize marijuana. That's like putting David Suzuki in charge of oil 
pipelines. Legal marijuana under this regime will be about as easy to 
get as high explosives.

The Liberals are too late anyway, at least in Vancouver and Victoria, 
where de facto legalization already is in effect, and without 
apparent chaos or anarchy. What stinks worse than weed is the 
geographic disparity of criminal law enforcement. We have achy thumbs 
here, too. Why can't we have a therapeutic toot without worrying 
about police kicking in the door?

Of course, it is no excuse to ignore the law because others elsewhere 
are doing so. Unless it is. Our Charter of Rights and Freedoms says, 
"Every individual is equal before and under the law ..." That's not 
exactly consistent with licensed retailing in Vancouver and arrests 
in Saskatoon.

I just hate to think of the 200 or so Canadians convicted every day 
for marijuana offences because they don't live in the right city.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom