Pubdate: Thu, 21 Apr 2016
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2016 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Alan Freeman

CANADA TO INTRODUCE BILL TO ALLOW MARIJUANA SALES

OTTAWA - The Canadian government announced Wednesday that it will 
introduce legislation next year to decriminalize and legalize the 
sale of marijuana, making Canada the first G7 country to permit 
widespread use of the substance.

The announcement was made by Canada's health minister, Jane Philpott, 
at a U.N. drug conference in New York. It follows through on a 
promise made during Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's successful 
election campaign last fall.

Philpott said details of the legislation are being worked out, but 
she vowed that the government "will keep marijuana out of the hands 
of children and profits out of the hands of criminals."

With the Liberals holding a majority in the House of Commons, the 
marijuana legislation is likely to pass. The path toward the 
legalization of marijuana is the latest in a string of policy 
announcements from the 44-year-old Trudeau that have moved Canada to 
the left after a decade of Conservative Party rule, including last 
week's unveiling of legislation to permit assisted suicide.

Trudeau, whose new government remains extremely popular, has long 
been associated with the marijuana legalization issue. While an 
opposition party member in Parliament, Trudeau admitted to occasional 
use of marijuana. "I think it's five or six times that I've taken a 
puff. It's not my thing," he told reporters at the time.

The Conservative Party attempted to use that statement as proof that 
Trudeau was a political lightweight and a pothead. In the 2015 
election, the Conservatives ran ads in ethnic newspapers falsely 
alleging that Trudeau backed the sale of marijuana to children.

The attack ads failed, in part because most Canadians no longer see 
the legalization of marijuana as a problem. A recent survey by Nanos 
Research, an Ottawa public opinion firm, showed that 68 percent of 
Canadians "support" or "somewhat support" legalizing marijuana and 
only 30 percent are opposed.

The population is more divided when it comes to allowing Canadians to 
grow marijuana at home, and about 50 percent of respondents said that 
they expect legalization to lead to more use by those younger than 21.

Unlike in the United States, where marijuana regulation is shared by 
the states and the federal government, in Canada the issue falls 
almost solely under federal jurisdiction. Marijuana use has been 
expanding since a court ruling in 2000 allowed Canadians to possess 
and grow small amounts for medicinal reasons.

Full legalization will make pot available in a way similar to 
alcohol. That could encourage Americans, particularly those in border 
areas, to pop over for a puff or two.

Already, Ontario's provincial premier, Kathleen Wynne, has 
volunteered that the provincially owned liquor monopoly would be 
happy to sell the drug. Canada's major drugstore chains have said 
that they would like to get in on the business, too.

After several court rulings, commercial marijuana operations have 
sprouted across the country. Although currently limited to medicinal 
sales, the companies have been keenly anticipating legalization 
allowing for widespread use.

One study by a leading Canadian bank estimated that legalization 
could spark development of an annual marijuana trade worth about $10 
billion Canadian (about $8 billion U.S.).

Brendan Kennedy, president of Privateer Holdings of Seattle, welcomed 
the Canadian announcement. His company owns Tilray, a medicinal 
marijuana facility in British Columbia, and he is looking to build a 
facility that would supply the market for recreational marijuana in Canada.

"The eyes of the world are on Canada as the medical marijuana program 
matures and the recreational program is being implemented," he said 
in an interview. "Canada will be the first G7 country to have a 
national recreational program different from Alaska, Colorado, Oregon 
and Washington," where state laws allowing marijuana use still bump 
up against U.S. federal prohibition.

There is still a series of negotiations required between the national 
government and the provinces to figure out regulation, taxation and 
distribution. Trudeau's point man on the issue is Bill Blair, a 
former Toronto police chief.

Blair said marijuana should be treated like such intoxicants as 
alcohol. "We control who it's sold to, when it's sold and how it's 
used. And organized crime doesn't have the opportunity to profit from it."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom