Pubdate: Fri, 04 Mar 2016
Source: North Shore News, The (CN QU)
Copyright: 2016 The North Shore News
Contact:  http://www.ns-news.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4497

HIGH TIME

There's little debate anymore that Canadians prefer legalization, 
taxation and regulation of marijuana and the Trudeau government has 
the mandate to bring that in.

But we're starting to feel a bit light headed at the hazy grey area 
the controlled substance now occupies.

People continue to be charged with simple possession yet "medicinal" 
pot dispensaries are sprouting like weeds, including in North Vancouver.

This legal grey area is not only confusing Canadians, it's leaving 
cities struggling to deal with dispensaries through their zoning bylaws.

Many people consider them to be a blight on their neighbourhood. It 
doesn't help that you can get a "medical professional" to write a 
prescription based on some very vaguely defined symptoms - some 
perhaps no more serious than boredom. Those with legitimate health 
issues also make use of the dispensaries but in practice many pot 
shops are selling to recreational users already.

It leaves the drug being distributed without the critical regulation 
and taxation we all agree needs to be in place.

We urge the federal Liberals to move expeditiously on this. We have 
the luxury of being able to learn from the mistakes and successes of 
the U.S. states who had the courage to pursue legalization before us. 
In the meantime, we'd hate to see Canadians saddled with criminal 
records for a law that's on its way out the door. The sooner we can 
have an adult conversation about how cannabis can be grown and 
distributed with public safety in mind, the better.

It's high time this issue started looking a little bit greener and a 
lot less grey.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom