Pubdate: Sun, 05 Jun 2016
Source: City Centre Mirror (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 Metroland Media Group Ltd
Contact:  http://www.insidetoronto.com/citycentre-toronto-on
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4438
Author: David Nickle

TORONTO LEFT IN A HAZE WAITING FOR FEDS NEW MARIJUANA LAWS

A bright flash of reason emerged in the haze of Toronto's new war on
drugs this week, when the Toronto Board of Health supported a Joe
Cressy motion to essentially ask the federal government what ought to
be done about marijuana over the next year or so.

That's how long Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals have given
themselves to come up with legislation governing soon-to-be-legalized
marijuana use. New MP and former Toronto police chief Bill Blair is
taking the lead on crafting the legislation, and taking appropriate
time doing it, so when it finally shows up in the spring of 2017,
expect premium law.

Until then?

Well legally it's pretty straightforward. Trafficking marijuana
remains illegal. It is a criminal offence to do so. It is legal to
dispense marijuana for medical purposes, but the law as written is
restrictive enough that the Supreme Court has ordered the federal
government to make up a new one.

Looked at through that lens, the raids police and bylaw officials
conducted last week on storefront medical marijuana dispensaries are
entirely appropriate, and the 90 individuals, many of them hourly
employees, will deserve what they get.

It doesn't matter if the law will be changed to something excellent
for pot smokers a year or so from now: right now the law is the law
and that is that.

Trouble is that the legal lens is not the only lens through which we
view this.

Marijuana was, is, and will be a widely used drug. It has harmful
effects, but those effects exist within a range that most reasonable
people find tolerable, the same as they tolerate alcohol and tobacco.

The major harm marijuana does has to do with its illegality: it funds
criminal organizations and puts otherwise innocent people in jail. The
reason we are on the road to legalizing marijuana stems in part from
those views.

So, what's wrong really with the proliferation of storefront
operations in flagrant violation of the soon-to-be laws?

The answer is that there is plenty wrong, when you look at it through
a third lens: that of public health.

According to the report before the board of health this week, there
are significant health risks associated with the heavy consumption of
the drug, particularly for those who begin their use of it in
adolescence. It impacts brain development, and it may trigger
psychotic disorders in people genetically prone to them.

It's not nearly the gateway drug some argue it is, but limited studies
indicate it can, in some, increase the risk of going on to more
dangerous drugs. And there is a small risk of dependence, and
respiratory effects. There is a small amount of evidence that cannabis
can cause developmental issues in pregnancy, and dangerous impairment
while driving an automobile.

There is something of a haze over all this, because marijuana's
illegality has limited the amount of research on its impacts.

That haze is unavoidable, and will only be cleared in time. But in
setting the long timetable for legislative clarity, the federal
government does owe Toronto and the rest of the country some guidance
on how to deal with this substance that until then is neither here nor
there.
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MAP posted-by: Matt