Pubdate: Fri, 06 Nov 2015 Source: National Post (Canada) Copyright: 2015 Canwest Publishing Inc. Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286 Author: Jen Gerson Page: A9 SO, LIKE, IS POT LEGAL YET, MAN? Legalizing Marijuana Is a Highly Visible, Oft-Repeated Promise Trudeau Simply Won't Get Away With Breaking With the formalities of the swearing-in ceremony now behind us, the hazy question on the tip of millions of voters' tongues begins to form: "When will pot be legal?" And, "Is pot legal yet?" Just about everybody remembers that he promised to legalize weed. Repeatedly. Articulately. Legalizing marijuana is one of those highly visible policy goals that will affect just about every Canadian, whether he's one of the many who smokes up on a regular basis, or the everybody else who knows somebody who does. This is a promise Trudeau won't get away with breaking. And if his cabinet is any indication, he has no intention of doing so. Several of his new cabinet ministers have advocated the Liberals' legalization policy, including Patty Hajdu, now minister for the status of women. Hajdu, who spent almost a decade in public health dealing with substance abuse, told the Canadian Press in December: Research shows that "the criminalization of young people ... for smoking marijuana creates far greater harm than the actual smoking of marijuana itself." She cited Trudeau's drug policies as a motivating factor for joining his team - and now his cabinet. Or take Trudeau's new health minister, Dr. Jane Philpott, who parroted the Liberals' stance on pot almost verbatim at a pre-election candidates forum. And then there's Jody Wilson-Raybould, our new Justice Minister, who represents Vancouver-Granville - veritable hallowed ground for the country's grassroots grass movement. Wilson-Raybould hasn't been particularly open about her stance, but legalization advocacy group Sensible B.C. identified her as the Anybody-But-Harper candidate to back in her riding. All in all, the organization's spokesperson was exceedingly optimistic about weed's legal outlook after Trudeau's cabinet was sworn in. "I think they have got to act quickly," said Dana Larsen. "It's going to take a while to get all this in place and they don't want to be in the middle of a transition in four years. When the next election comes, they will want to have one successful program in place and that's going to take some time." That's because, like regulation of tobacco and alcohol, the nitty gritty details of Canada's new pot regime will likely fall to the provinces. Nobody yet knows what a legal weed system is going to look like here; penalties, age limits, taxes, dosages, distribution and regulatory regimes - even what level of government will manage the affair and reap the profits. The Liberals' platform remains unsurprisingly opaque on the topic, promising to "design a new system of strict marijuana sales and distribution," sans details. Our country's take on alcohol sales, for example, has hardly been consistent. Alberta is a free-wheeling boozy free-for-all where adults can stumble into half-a -dozen liquor stores on any city block at 3 a.m. and get lost somewhere between the Australian and Chilean whites. Compare and contrast that to Ontario, where the reigning Liberal government has developed an unhealthy affection for the donations that continually slosh into party coffers via the Beer Store. By total coincidence, the province maintains laws that virtually ensure a Beer Store monopoly. "Ultimately, we do worry about that kind of monopoly. We don't want to see the Beer Store model in Ontario become the Cannabis Store model for Canada," Larsen said. In fact, many pot advocates, assured of their first legal victory, are now turning their attention to the prospect of an inflexible State Bud "corporatist" regime - the fact that the federal Liberal party's volunteer Chief Financial Officer Chuck Rifici also happens to be the co-founder of Tweed Marijuana Inc., certainly doesn't allay any fears among the hemp happy Adbusters set. Tweed is one of a handful of companies licensed by Health Canada to provide medical marijuana. Its ambitions are, understandably, set on the recreational market. (Rifici stepped down as CEO of the company mid-campaign.) "We talk a lot about the wine model. We want people to be able to grow their own at home if they choose," Larsen added. Yes, there will be big corporate players who will want to take advantage of an untapped legal market estimated to be worth $5 billion. But advocates also want low barriers to entry - a place for niche products and the bud equivalent of craft brewers. Taxes are fine. But "they can't be punitive taxes. If that happens, the black market will continue." Oh, and those gangsters legalization is supposed to shut down? Well, maybe. However, early returns in places like Colorado have raised concern that criminals moved out of the pot racket and into harder drugs. The profit is, after all, not in the drugs themselves, but in the artificial value the government injects into them by virtue of prohibition. Larsen, who also runs a medical marijuana dispensary, hopes that some of his "grey market" suppliers simply decide to go legitimate. Personally, I support legalization, a position rooted in the belief that the criminal justice system is too blunt a tool to manage drug addiction. That said, the path ahead is not going to be easy, and the talking points that sounded so good on the campaign trail - that legalization will make drugs harder for kids to obtain, take drugs out of the hands of criminals, and prove a powerful revenue tool - should be treated with a touch of skepticism. So, no kids. Pot is not legal yet, and it's unlikely to be so for at least a few years. And even when it is, it may not provide the high you were looking for. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom