Pubdate: Thu, 09 Oct 2014
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2014 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Sheryl Ubelacker
Page: A10
Cited: CAMH Cannabis Policy Framework: http://mapinc.org/url/sCod1dXx

TIME TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA, TREATMENT CENTRE URGES

Facility seeks restrictions on availability and quantity

Canada's largest mental health and addiction treatment and research
centre is calling for the legalization of marijuana, with strict
controls that would govern who could buy weed, from where and in what
quantity.

In a policy statement released Thursday, the Centre for Addiction and
Mental Health (CAHM) in Toronto said cannabis should be sold through a
government-controlled monopoly with limited availability and an age
limit, possibly through outlets similar to provincially operated
liquor stores. "Legalization means that we remove all penalties for
cannabis possession and use by adults," said Jurgen Rehm, director of
social and epidemiological research at CAMH.

"Canada's current system of cannabis control is failing to prevent or
reduce the harms associated with cannabis use," he said Wednesday.
"Based on a thorough review of the evidence, we believe that
legalization combined with strict regulation of cannabis is the most
effective means of reducing the harms associated with its use."

Those harms associated with the use of marijuana include respiratory
diseases such as lung cancer, the risk of death or disability from
motor vehicle accidents and deleterious effects on cognition,
particularly among pot-smoking adolescents because their brains are
still developing.

Cannabis use also can also become habitual, said Rehm, noting that
about 30,000 people are treated for pot dependence each year in
Ontario alone.
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MAP posted-by: Matt