Pubdate: Thu, 17 Mar 2016
Source: Metro (Edmonton, CN AB)
Copyright: 2016 Metro Canada
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/Edmonton
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4475
Author: Samantha Power
Page: 3

POT IS NO LAUGHING MATTER: ADVOCATES

Finance Minister Joe Ceci said he won't be quitting his day job after
his comedy routine failed to land a laugh.

In an address to the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and
Counties in Edmonton Wednesday, Ceci included a joke that liquor
stores could become pot dispensaries if marijuana was ever legalized
by the federal government.

Twitter exploded.

Ceci quickly backtracked.

"It wasn't that funny, unfortunately," Ceci said to reporters after
the talk.

And pot advocates were not laughing, either.

Melissa Finlay of the Alberta Cannabis Culture Society said the use of
pot and liquor are two very different things, and that marijuana
dispensers must be knowledgeable in the medicinal uses of the drug.

"Cannabis is used medicinally and that seems to get lost in this hype
of legalization for recreational use," Finlay, a cofounder of the
society, said.

Although Ceci was joking, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne made a
similar suggestion late last year.
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MAP posted-by: Matt