Pubdate: Sun, 04 Dec 2016
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Robert Benzie
Page: A4

TRUDEAU GETS TOUGH ON DISPENSARIES

With marijuana legalization looming, PM wants police to tackle
unlicensed vendors

A frustrated Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wants police to "enforce
the law" and criminally charge illegal marijuana dispensaries - even
though weed legalization is looming.

"People are right now breaking the law," Trudeau told the Star's
editorial board on Friday.

"We haven't changed the laws. We haven't legalized it yet. Yes, we got
a clear mandate to do that. We've said we will. We've said we're going
to do it to protect our kids and to keep the money out of the pockets
of criminals."

But the spread of storefront "dispensaries" - scores of which have
popped up on Toronto streets this year - is clearly a concern to the
prime minister.

"It's a situation that is frustrating and I can understand people's
frustration on this," Trudeau said.

"The promise we made around legalizing marijuana was done for two
reasons . . . that I was very, very clear about: one, to better
protect our kids from the easy access they have right now to
marijuana; and, two, to remove the criminal elements that were
profiting from marijuana," he said.

"We believe that a properly regulated, controlled system will achieve
both of those measures. But we haven't brought in that properly
regulated, controlled system because it's important that we do it
right in order to achieve those two specific goals."

That new law will be unveiled next spring. The blueprint for the
legislation is a report by former deputy prime minister Anne
McLellan's task force of medical and legal experts, which will be
released within days.

Until the new law is enacted some time in 2017, Trudeau stressed "the
current prohibition stands."

"So, I don't know how much clearer we can be that we're not legalizing
marijuana to please recreational users," he said. "I mean, that will
be a byproduct. We recognize that that is something that's going to
happen when it happens, but it's not happened yet."

While Trudeau said he had not yet pored over the McLellan panel's
report, he has clearly been thinking about the age limits for
recreational marijuana use.

"It's been highlighted many times that the effect of cannabis on the
developing brain is particularly problematic," the prime minister
said. "I'm not going to venture too much further into the science but
I think there is a consensus that, yes, perhaps up until 21 or 25 it's
not as good as past that age. But I have a sense that the worst damage
is in the 12-, 13-, 14-year-old range," he said. Trudeau emphasized
Ottawa would "work hand in glove with the provinces," which suggests
there could be different age limits across the country.

"The federal drinking limit is set at 18 but if provinces want to make
it 19 - as a few have - it can be 19."

Currently, marijuana is legal for medicinal purposes with a
prescription from a medical doctor.

It can only be supplied by the 36 Health Canada-licensed producers and
delivered by registered mail or homegrown in small amounts.

Storefront dispensaries that claim to be supplying medicinal marijuana
are not federally licensed and are breaking the existing law.

Asked what municipalities could do to deal with the scourge of such
pot shops, Trudeau did not mince words: "You can enforce the law."

Police have been trying to do that in places such as Toronto and
Ottawa, with raids of dispensaries, but with middling effect.

Because the federal law will eventually be amended, some entrepreneurs
appear willing to risk fines as a cost of doing business before
outright legalization.
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MAP posted-by: Matt