Pubdate: Sun, 13 Dec 2015
Source: Ottawa Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2015 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact: http://www.ottawasun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://www.ottawasun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/329
Author: Solomon Friedman
Page: 11

WHEN IT COMES TO MARIJUANA REFORM, CANADIANS SIMPLY CAN'T AFFORD TO WAIT

"We will legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana."

This was one of Justin Trudeau's campaign promises and a stance, as
poll after poll confirms, that is widely supported by Canadians.

This promise was once again repeated in last week's Speech from the
Throne, entitled, interestingly enough, "Making real change happen."

The government, however, appears to be moving slowly on this
particular pledge.

During the campaign, Trudeau promised to create a 
federal/provincial/territorial task force and to consult widely with 
public health officials and law enforcement in designing a regime for 
regulating the production and sale of marijuana.

The government is concerned of course, with keeping marijuana out of
the hands of minors. It is also, no doubt, concerned about marijuana
being purchased and then diverted to criminal elements for illegal
resale.

And all of this makes good sense.

The trouble is that decriminalizing marijuana is about more than
simply allowing millions of Canadians legal access to their
recreational substance of choice. It is about correcting severe
injustices and ultimately, like so many other policy issues, about
directing scarce resources to truly pressing problems.

To this day, individuals found with even the smallest amounts of
marijuana face the prospect of arrest, detention and a permanent
criminal record.

More importantly, with every charge laid and prosecuted, untold
millions of dollars -- in the form of police, prosecutors, courts and
correctional systems -- are wasted pursuing Canadians who are
responsibly using a substance that the present government has promised
to legalize.

And perhaps worst of all, the prohibition of marijuana enriches
criminal gangs, creating twisted incentives for violence and thuggery.

There is however, an interim solution that the government can pursue
while it takes time to consult widely and build a system of marijuana
regulation from the ground up.

Imagine that Canada already had a roster of government-regulated and
approved marijuana producers.

Their staff and management have undergone rigorous criminal background
checks. Their facilities have been inspected to ensure meticulous
quality control and to protect against illegal diversion.

In addition, these operations are already required to verify purchaser
identity and to ship their products securely.

And best of all, these producers embody the spirit of the free market.
As private enterprises (unlike, for example, the LCBO), they can
compete with each other to keep standards high and prices low.

In truth, there's no need to imagine this. It is already
here.

In 2013, the Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR) came
into effect, creating a commercial industry responsible for producing
and distributing medical marijuana.

If MMPR producers are currently trusted to grow marijuana securely, to
ensure the highest standards of quality and to distribute it only to
verified and licensed medical marijuana users, they can surely be
relied upon to implement whatever screening and distribution protocols
the government devises for recreational marijuana.

Marijuana reform is long overdue. In 1972, the Le Dain Commission
recommended that Canada decriminalize the simple possession and
cultivation of marijuana.

In fact, the Commission's report went so far as to state that "the
actual perception of harm of cannabis is now so different from that
which the law would suggest, that any change in the law could only be
recognized as a belated recognition of the facts." That was 43 years
ago.

It is time to end a legal regime that does nothing more than enrich
criminals and fuels gang activity and senseless violence. It is time
to unburden the overstrained justice system by ending the prosecution
of otherwise law-abiding citizens for the offence of simple possession
of marijuana.

After all, Canada has a healthy industry of pre-approved MMPR
producers who have already proven that they can produce and distribute
medical marijuana legally and responsibly. They should be given the
chance to do the same for recreational marijuana.

Because when it comes to marijuana reform, Canadians simply cannot
afford to wait.

Solomon Friedman is an Ottawa criminal defence lawyer.
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MAP posted-by: Matt