Pubdate: Tue, 12 Jan 2016
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Robert Benzie
Page: A6

WYNNE BACKS BLAIR'S LEAD ON WEED

Rookie MP's Backing of Proposal to Sell Marijuana in LCBO Heartens Premier

The Blair roach project has won a powerful supporter.

Premier Kathleen Wynne said she is pleased Prime Minister Justin 
Trudeau has asked former Toronto police chief Bill Blair, now 
Scarborough Southwest MP, to lead the marijuana legalization efforts.

"I have a lot of respect for Bill Blair. I think that he'll do a 
great job and his taking on of that role is the beginning of that 
national conversation that I said we have to have," Wynne told 
reporters Monday at Queen's Park. The premier added that she was 
heartened that Blair is embracing her proposal to have cannabis sold 
through government-owned Liquor Control Board of Ontario outlets.

"I'm encouraged that he had, as a preliminary approach, that he 
thinks that it might make sense to use a distribution network that's 
in place, . . . (although that's) not a foregone conclusion," she said.

"He's got a lot of people to talk to and he's got a lot of questions 
to ask and a lot of decisions to make over the coming months, so I 
look forward to that conversation."

Blair, a rookie MP who is parliamentary secretary to Justice Minister 
Jody Wilson-Raybould, will work with a three-member cabinet team and 
a soon-to-be-named federal-provincial-territorial task force to 
develop the policy for legalizing marijuana.

On Friday, Blair said Ottawa will look to Colorado and other 
jurisdictions that have legalized marijuana sales.

"We have pretty robust systems of regulation for other intoxicants in 
this country, mostly overseen by the provinces, and so we've already 
got a model, a framework we can build on here," he said.

"I think there are certain modifications or adjustments that we may 
have to make for cannabis as opposed to alcohol, but I think there is 
already a strong system in place for the control and regulation" of 
marijuana sales here.

The police veteran, who himself has never smoked marijuana, pointed 
out that it is "very difficult" for under-aged Ontarians to buy booze 
at the LCBO.

"You're going to come up against a government employee who's got 
regulations to enforce and is going to ask for identification and if 
a person's under age, they're not going to be able to buy that," said Blair.

"And that's a far better way to regulate access (to marijuana) for 
kids than leaving it up to some criminal in a stairwell. Frankly, in 
most urban centres across this country, it is far easier for a kid, 
an under-aged youth, to acquire marijuana than it is to acquire alcohol."

- - With files from Tonda MacCharles
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom