Pubdate: Tue, 05 Jul 2016
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Page: 17
Copyright: 2016 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact: http://www.torontosun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Anthony Furey

LET'S AVOID A MASSIVE POT BUREAUCRACY

Everyone has their own way of celebrating Canada Day.

For some it involves a touch of vice. Like having one drink too many.

Or doing what Apu from The Simpsons described as celebrating the 
independence of your nation by blowing up a small part of it: 
lighting way too many fireworks.

But many Canadians opted for a more relaxed approach and decided to 
get stoned. And is there really anything wrong with that? Tens of 
thousands of Canadians, if not more, chose to smoke a joint rather 
than knock back a six-pack.

Should they go to jail for it? No way.

Yet, technically at least, the law as it stands still says those are 
the potential consequences for people who pick their poison in this way.

This is why it was timely for the Liberals to launch their task force 
on pot legalization the day before July 1.

A nine-member panel, led by former justice and health minister Anne 
McLellan, will spend the summer engaging with experts and soliciting 
feedback from Canadians to assist them in crafting recommendations to 
the government, due in November.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has championed his party's plans to 
"legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana."

It's the right move and long overdue. Do we really want our tax 
dollars used to criminalize the otherwise law-abiding friends and 
family in our lives who smoke pot?

Trudeau's just doing what governments before him should have done, 
measures most Canadians support.

But clearly the Liberals need to strike the right balance.

There are legitimate concerns from stakeholders about how we move 
beyond prohibition. For example, who will be given licences to sell pot?

How much, if any, will you be able to grow in your backyard?

Which details will be federally determined and which left to the provinces?

But there's an overarching issue that isn't about the specifics of 
the law, but what kind of system will be put in place to administer 
pot production and sales.

The Liberals and the provinces need to do everything possible to make 
sure their oversight of pot doesn't become a massive bureaucratic empire.

A century ago, alcohol laws loosened across the country.

But instead of leaving as much of the industry as possible to the 
free market - to producers, consumers and vendors - government 
plopped itself right into the middle and never left.

In Ontario, the LCBO has almost exclusive domain over booze sales in 
Canada's largest province.

It's a monopoly that engages in legal price-fixing.

The whole thing would arguably be illegal if it wasn't being done by 
the government.

It boggles the mind that for almost a hundred years the government 
has been in the retail business of selling booze.

It even produces a popular, glossy magazine with recipes.

As of last count, the LCBO had 242 employees on the sunshine list, 
each making over $100,000 annually.

It makes no sense. But good luck shutting down such a massive, 
entrenched operation.

It's arguably worse when it comes to The Beer Store, Ontario's near 
exclusive seller of beer.

In this case it's not even the government running it, but three 
large, foreign-owned breweries.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is moving in the right direction by 
letting select Loblaws locations sell beer, but the status quo is 
still ridiculous.

Canada's alcohol system and laws were a mess from day one. Let's not 
make the same mistakes with marijuana.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom