Pubdate: Fri, 13 May 2016
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact: http://www.torontosun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Joe Warmington
Page: 9
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?240 (Barth, Russell)

BLOWING SMOKE AT THE FUTURE?

Tory Wants to Turn Back Clock: Pot Boosters

When it came to rapidly expanding Uber, Mayor John Tory was certainly 
opposed to standing in the way of the changing reality.

"The notion that we think somehow we're going to turn back the hands 
of time in Toronto, Canada, I mean this is not sensible," Tory said, 
much to the chagrin of the taxi industry.

But on the rapidly expanding marijuana dispensary business, bud 
boosters are accusing Tory of wanting to turn back the clock.

"I would ask that you employ, in conjunction with the Toronto Police 
Service, whatever enforcement mechanisms are currently available to 
you to address the health and safety concerns of neighbours and 
businesses in the communities where these marijuana dispensaries are 
currently operating unlawfully," the mayor wrote to the city's 
licensing officials.

But with marijuana soon to be legalized, is it sensible to go back to 
the way it was when pot would be sold in the back alley behind the dispensary?

The dispensary owner pays rent and municipal taxes that those in the 
shadows don't.

Tory promises that is not even close to what he is saying.

"Left unaddressed, the number of these dispensaries will only 
increase," Tory wrote in his open letter, released Thursday. "This 
proliferation brings with it potential health risks for individuals 
who patronize dispensaries where the substance for sale is completely 
unregulated. It also affects surrounding businesses and communities 
who have valid concerns that must be addressed - in particular, 
concerns about access by minors."

Risks worse than drug dealers selling to minors in the nearby 
schoolyard or the "proliferation" of gun crimes in 2016 thanks to the 
sale of illegal pot?

"John Tory knows perfectly well that shutting these dispensaries down 
will force countless medical marijuana users, many of them veterans, 
back into the arms of dealers," said Russell Barth, known as the 
Angriest Pothead in Canada.

Tory rejected that notion - saying in many cases the products they 
are selling have no "quality control" and, in some cases, illegal 
sales were occurring. He's also concerned with it becoming "the wild 
west" before it's even legal to properly sell.

Barth argues their existence falls into a loophole/ grey area created 
by Supreme Court rulings similar to what Canada experienced with 
abortion, same sex marriage and prostitution.

"That's why the police have not been laying charges," he said.

Tory said he's merely trying to protect neighbourhoods and businesses 
from something new sprouting up without adequate rules.

Meanwhile, Barth said he expects pushback from political and business 
elites as some consider the legalization of pot that Prime Minister 
Justin Trudeau's Liberal government has promised a modern day gold rush.

"Legalization to them is a corporate monopoly on marijuana," he said.

Premier Kathleen Wynne has talked of selling pot through the LCBO and 
it's no secret several former politicians and ex-cops have gone into 
the medicinal marijuana business.

Barth believes state control advocates don't want the public to get 
used to Main Street store sales and price competition.

Rather than having a government market and a "black market," he 
prefers the mom-and-pop shops. He also supports the idea that a 
regular person who may want to avoid LCBO-type prices should be able 
to grow a few plants of their own tax free.

"It should be like tomatoes," he said.

Tory once said "Uber is here to stay." Now he insists no matter how 
it's spun, he's not trying to stop pot dispensaries from being the same.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom