Pubdate: Thu, 14 Jul 2016
Source: Orillia Today (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 Metroland Printing, Publishing and Distributing
Contact:  http://www.simcoe.com/orillia-on
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1508

TOO-STRICT POT RULES BAD IDEA

It was always clear that many hurdles will have to be jumped before
legal marijuana can become a reality in Canada.

Pot advocates won't be too pleased with the latest one.

Ottawa, which recently struck a marijuana task force led by former
deputy prime minister Anne McLellan, is sending strong signals
legalized pot will be so strictly controlled that homegrown weed (even
for medical purposes) may remain an illegal substance.

For advocates, this will come as surprising and unwelcome news.

Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott says the government wants to
treat pot like tobacco. She may or may not be aware, however, that it
is actually legal to grow your own personal-use tobacco in small
amounts in Ontario.

Liberal MPP Bill Blair, justifying a heavy-handed approach, told the
Toronto Star last week: "Unlike (growing) tomatoes, (marijuana) is a
substance that poses … significant … social and health harms and risks
to Canadians … the science is overwhelmingly clear that marijuana is
not a benign substance."

On that basis, it doesn't exactly sound like something that should be
legal, does it?

Except that doctors are prescribing it for glaucoma, anxiety, pain
relief, muscle spasms caused by MS, nausea, arthritis discomfort,
Crohn's disease and more.

And we all know recreational use is widespread. A 2015 survey showed
20 per cent of Canadians indulge and another 10 per cent will light up
once it appears in stores.

A Conservative attempt to prevent medical users from growing their own
pot has already been tossed out by the courts. It stands to reason
then that preventing non-medical users of a legal substance from
growing their own plants could amount to discrimination. Perhaps that
is the wrench in the gears.

As we have seen with the emergence of medical pot dispensaries,
declaring you are making it legal amounts to letting the horse out of
the barn. You will have an industry, you will have people growing
their own, for medical uses or not. The notion you can police every
user who may have a few plants in a pot at home is absurd.

The Liberals seem intent on following through on this promise. It just
seems like they forget why they made it in the first place.
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MAP posted-by: Matt