Pubdate: Sat, 04 Feb 2017 Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB) Copyright: 2017 Postmedia Network Contact: http://www.calgaryherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66 Author: Annalise Klingbeil Page: A8 Referenced: http://mapinc.org/url/spC7LQBu COUNCIL READIES ITSELF FOR LEGAL POT Calgary's elected officials will gather on Monday for an education session on marijuana, as the legalization of weed looms. Mayor Naheed Nenshi said council will hear from experts including officials from American municipalities that have already lifted pot prohibition. "We actually have convened a panel. We've brought in some experts from other places to really talk to use about what the city's response and reaction is going to have to be from a zoning perspective, from a bylaw perspective and so on, on marijuana," Nenshi said. "I'm really looking forward to it. It will be a good opportunity for us to really get our heads around a pretty significant change that we're expecting from the federal legislation." The Trudeau government plans to introduce its legislation to legalize marijuana this spring, after a final report and recommendations from the government's Task Force on Marijuana Legalization and Regulation was released in December. The task force spent months gathering input from provincial and municipal governments, indigenous people and health and addiction experts and the group's recommendations included requiring plain packaging for cannabis products and setting a national minimum age of purchase at 18, with room for individual provinces to "harmonize" the minimum age with that of buying alcohol and tobacco. Nenshi said other cities that have already legalized pot have excelled at keeping data and Monday's educational session will be an opportunity for Calgary's leaders to learn from others. "Both the city of Denver and the government of Colorado ... focused on becoming data warehouses when it happened there so that they'd have that information to share and they've been extraordinarily generous," he said. The mayor believes the information from Monday's session could be useful for all municipalities across Canada. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt