Re: Legalization of recreational weed unlikely to kill pot black market right away, Published online Dec. 4

In trying to push out organized crime from the marijuana trade, Canada will try to succeed at a task it has failed in other places.

Contraband tobacco is the lesson that Canada, and especially Ontario, refuses to learn. Illegal cigarettes are a major problem, with about one third of all cigarettes purchased in Ontario being illegal. The RCMP has identified 175 criminal gangs involved in the trade, who use the profits to deal in other illicit activities, including guns, drugs and human smuggling.

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Council does not want LCBO's legal dispensary to be located in town

"Thanks but no thanks."

That was the answer Monday night from local councillors to a suggestion Richmond Hill should be one of the first host towns for legal recreational marijuana sales.

The town of Richmond Hill received a letter Nov. 28 from the Ministry of Finance announcing a cannabis store may be coming to town in July 2018.

"We are not interested," Mayor Dave Barrow said at a committee of the whole meeting this week.

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The B.C. NDP government tipped its hand Tuesday on how it plans to regulate the legal sale of marijuana. Besides setting the age at 19 to buy, possess and consume pot, similar to alcohol and tobacco, the province said the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch will be the sole supplier, distributing pot to private and public stores in the same manner it already does with booze.

The government didn't address exactly who will sell pot but it looks like the NDP will take a different tact from the model already laid out in Ontario, where legal pot will only be available in about 150 stores, all operated by that province's liquor control board.

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Marketing, packaging of legal marijuana sure to cause headaches

VANCOUVER - David Brown's marijuana marketing students are often shocked to learn how difficult it is to - well - market marijuana.

Advertising medical cannabis is essentially banned in Canada, with some exceptions. Restrictions on recreational weed are set to be a bit looser, but Brown still advises students to think of the constraints as opportunities.

"These limitations can really aid in creativity. Marketing weed isn't difficult, but marketing a highly regulated cannabis product is a lot more of a challenge," said Brown, an instructor in Kwantlen Polytechnic University's cannabis professional series.

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Pot shop weeded out

Another one has gone up in smoke.

And just like with the other potshop closures, it appeared as though the void, at least in part, was immediately filled by street drug dealers.

"Actually, there are four or five guys," said one retailer in the Kensington Market area.

On Wednesday morning after the raid that shut down The Toronto Dispensary at 33 Kensington Ave., you could see street dealers lurking nearby as people who hadn't yet heard the news were looking for their buzz.

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The Ontario government says it will delay opening branches of its new cannabis retail chain in municipalities that object to having them.

A handful of mayors in the Greater Toronto Area have said they do not want a marijuana store in their areas, even though they recognize they are powerless to stop Queen's Park.

Among them is Dave Barrow of Richmond Hill. His town council has received a deluge of complaints from residents about the province's plan to open one of the provincially controlled stores in the suburb north of Toronto, and is expected to vote No to it on Monday.

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The picture of legal marijuana in B.C. got a little clearer this week, as the provincial government released some of its planned regulations.

While some decisions have yet to be made - or made public - three important ones are in place: minimum age, wholesale distribution and retail policy.

The government has wisely set the minimum age for cannabis at 19. That's the same as for alcohol and tobacco, and matches the age of majority in B.C. Having different ages for different vices would confuse everyone, and regulators have to keep in mind the studies that say cannabis has a harmful effect on the developing brains of teenagers.

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The County of Strathcona prides itself on being a "champion for advancing diverse agricultural business." We hope that you keep this spirit in mind when voting on the request to place a moratorium on cannabis operations under intensive horticulture in Strathcona County.

As a county that puts priority on being a place that is open for business and investment, this moratorium is counter-intuitive to Strathcona's strategic priorities and goals. With agricultural expertise and well-honed entrepreneurial spirit, Alberta is poised to be a leader in the Canadian cannabis industry.

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New government rules set 19 as minimum age to buy marijuana

The provincial government announced Tuesday that the BC Liquor Distribution Branch will be the wholesale distributor of non-medical cannabis once the federal government legalizes marijuana in July 2018.

The policy move by the government is in addition to new rules that state buyers and consumers of recreational marijuana must be at least 19 years old, which is consistent with current laws related to alcohol and tobacco.

Mike Farnworth, the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, spoke to reporters in a conference call but would not say specifically where consumers will be able to legally buy marijuana under the new rules.

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A New Brunswick-based medical marijuana producer in partnership with both the provincial government and the Trailer Park Boys has had a lawsuit against it expanded to include possible health effects.

A class action was filed on March 3 against Health Canada-certified medical cannabis producer Organigram Inc. for containing unauthorized pesticides.

Halifax-based injury lawyer Ray Wagner, who is representing the plaintiffs, told The Chronicle Herald the suit was originally economic in nature - essentially to return to clients the money they paid for the recalled product - but last month it was expanded to take into account the health impacts of using the tainted product.

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The owner of a Halifax marijuana dispensary says the province's recreational pot policy announced Thursday will drive more people to the black market.

But Chris Enns said he doesn't fear that widespread access to pot next July will threaten his business.

"I've had no less than half a dozen individuals call me this morning literally in tears, worried I was going to shut down or be shut down by these new regulations and that they wouldn't have a source for their medicine anymore," said Enns, owner of Farm Assists Medical Cannabis Resource Centre, in an interview Thursday.

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Cambridge resident Cindy Watson wants the Region of Waterloo to put the brakes on the proposed use of safe injection sites.

During the region's community services committee Tuesday, Watson spoke in front of councillors asking them to think hard before moving forward with safe injection sites.

"You will be making one of the most important decisions of your career," said Watson. "Don't be pressured into using a broken model … the model itself is broken."

Watson said harm reduction is needed, but needs to be balanced with public safety and livelihood of downtown cores.

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While regional councillors have heard bits and pieces about the opioid response in the region, they heard it from the horse's mouth on Tuesday.

Members from various regional and community groups spoke before council in a public meeting to encourage a broad understanding of the complex issue.

The public meeting was broken down into core areas, such as policing, mental health services and public health services.

Bruce Lauckner, CEO of the Waterloo-Wellington Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), said opioids have become similar to cancer, where the general population is impacted by one or two degrees of separation at most.

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Poetic Riposte

OTTAWA - With the Liberal cannabis legalization bill now being debated in the Senate, the Conservative Party's health critic used poetry Friday to ask for sober second thought.

Marilyn Gladu implored the upper chamber to "keep our great country safe from all the weed" Friday after the Senate's first debate on Bill C-45, a federal framework for legal marijuana, got underway Thursday afternoon.

The House of Commons passed the federal bill Monday. It must get through an unpredictable Senate before it can become law. So far, eight provinces and territories have unveiled plans ahead of the government's July 1, 2018, deadline for Canadians to access legal pot.

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A Carlington pot shop won't reopen after a fire now being probed by arson investigators, says a city councillor who's long been opposed to the illicit enterprise.

The owners of Ottawa Cannabis Dispensary did not respond to an interview request but Coun. Riley Brockington said that they told him Friday that the Laperriere Avenue shop had closed before it was gutted by an early morning fire and they are no longer in the business.

Brockington is disappointed that arson is suspected in the fire, which was near homes and across the street from a Montessori school. Nearby businesses include an auto body shop with a stack of tires, and a chip truck out front with a large propane tank.

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MORE than 21 per cent of adult Manitobans used cannabis in the past year and another 21.1 per cent may try it after legalization, new data from the Liquor and Gaming Authority of Manitoba suggests.

The figures come from an anonymous phone survey of 1,201 adults in September. The alcohol and gambling regulator, whose mandate will include marijuana, says its sample is "quasi-representative" of the province's adult population. The survey found 55.2 per cent of Manitobans have used cannabis, with 16 being the most common age of initiation.

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On July 1, 2018, marijuana is going to be legalized in Canada. However, there is no need to fear. In fact, Canadians should feel more at ease as July 1 approaches.

Legalization means many things for Canadians. Once a substance is legalized, it directly and aggressively hemorrhages revenue from the black market. When criminal organizations lose money, they lose power. When they lose power, they lose their ability to negatively affect society.

This will be akin to what occurred when prohibition ceased in the United States. All these criminal organizations lost their power and wealth once alcohol was relegalized. Legalization, in turn, made society at large safer and more hospitable.

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Legalized marijuana will 'enslave our youth" and turn the federal government into "the new pusher on the block," a Chatham politician says - drawing a rebuke from the community's top publichealth official.

Dave Van Kesteren said that nothing about the federal government's Cannabis Act is good, but he's particularly concerned about how it allows youth ages 11 to 17 to carry up to five grams of cannabis.

"Doctors have been saying, psychiatrists have been saying, that because the brain is still forming and is not fully formed by the time somebody is 25, somebody below that age should certainly not be using it," the Conservative member said in an interview.

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A SLIGHT majority of Manitobans disagree with Premier Brian Pallister's calls to delay federal legalization of cannabis in Canada, according to a new online poll from the Angus Reid Institute.

Fifty-eight per cent of Manitoba respondents say, "The timeline should not be changed." Nationwide, 53 per cent of all respondents agree.

The Angus Reid Institute's online poll used a sample of 1,510 Canadians who were randomly selected members of the pollster's proprietary Angus Reid Forum, which the website describes as a representative panel of "almost 130,000 Canadian households." The poll, conducted Nov. 14 to 20, includes a sample of 101 Manitobans.

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Why is Canada being changed for the worse? For example, young peoples' brains are definitely adversely affected by THC in marijuana and yet we are legalizing this garbage? We, soon, will be a nation of idiots.

Why is it that our judiciary is letting a convicted murderers out on un-escorted passes i.e. Melissa Todorovic and Tara Sanderson. Are the victims granted life again? NO, but the murderers are not punished.

They just get a slap on the wrist and their lives go on. Why is it that I think that Canada's judicial system is a joke?

Our bending over backwards to be oh-so accommodating is turning logic and common sense upside-down. Where is this "Oh aren't we so tolerant and accommodating" going to end? We have to get back to logic and common sense.

J.R. Baldwin

Omemee

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