Pubdate: Sat, 23 Apr 2016
Source: Penticton Herald (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 The Okanagan Valley Group of Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.pentictonherald.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/664
Page: A10

TEMPORARY POT RULES NEEDED UNTIL NEW LAW WRITTEN

As marijuana activists gathered on Wednesday to celebrate their 
favourite plant, most were breaking the law. That same day, Canada's 
health minister announced the government's timeline for legalizing marijuana.

The law is finally catching up to reality, but the federal government 
needs to take interim steps to bring order to a confusing patchwork 
of enforcement across the country.

During a speech at the UN Wednesday, Health Minister Jane Philpott 
said the government would begin the process next spring to draft 
legislation to to legalize and regulate marijuana.

Marijuana has been a fact of Canadian life for more than 50 years. 
During that time, thousands of Canadians have been made criminals for 
using or selling the drug, while millions who use or sell two common 
addictive drugs - tobacco and alcohol - have done so under the 
protection of the law.

Regardless of where one stands on the use of any of these substances, 
it's hard to deny that unfairness and inequity are at play. 
Canadians' attitudes toward marijuana have evolved; it's time the law 
evolved accordingly.

A year might seem a long time to bring in marijuana legislation, but 
it's not simply a matter of throwing the doors wide open. As Philpott 
states, the approach should be rooted in science.

"I am proud to stand up for our drug policy that is informed by solid 
scientific evidence and uses a lens of public health to maximize 
education and minimize harm," she said.

Health Canada will be working with Justice and Public Safety to work 
out a regime for marijuana control and regulation. A task force, led 
by Liberal MP and former Toronto police chief Bill Blair, will 
solicit the views of governments, experts and the public.

The government appears to be taking a sensible, logical approach. 
What isn't sensible and logical, though, is where the announcement 
leaves the current array of laws. Until new legislation comes in, it 
is still illegal to possess or sell marijuana, except for medical purposes.

Enforcement of those laws has been widely disparate across the 
country. When someone tokes up in one jurisdiction, police look the 
other way. In another, offenders are arrested and charged. A national 
approach is needed.

Philpott's announcement will only exacerbate the confusion, unless 
the government takes steps to instil order. Guidelines should be laid 
down for police and justice officials as to how the laws should be 
enforced pending the new legislation. It will be difficult to 
prosecute laws the government plans to repeal.

Decriminalizing the use of marijuana is overdue, but let's not allow 
the impending changes to blind us to the fact that marijuana is not 
the benign herb it is often portrayed to be. It is a potent plant 
that can cause harm. The Mayo Clinic lists dozens of adverse 
side-effects that can result from the use of marijuana.

When Europeans first became aware of tobacco, they saw it as a 
panacea, to the extent it was called the "holy herb" and "God's 
remedy," claims that echo the praise heaped on marijuana today. It 
took several hundred years to discover the harm tobacco does.

But marijuana also has the potential for good, and has already been 
found to relieve the symptoms of people suffering from a variety of 
illnesses. But it should be science, not folklore and anecdotal 
evidence, that calculates what the drug can do.

As the federal government crafts its new marijuana law, it should 
ensure the effects of marijuana use, bad and good, are thoroughly and 
scientifically researched.

This is as much a public-health issue as it is a legal one.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom