Pubdate: Wed, 07 Dec 2016
Source: Calgary Sun, The (CN AB)
Copyright: 2016 The Calgary Sun
Contact: http://www.calgarysun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://www.calgarysun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/67
Author: James Wood
Page: 12

FEDS TOLD NOT TO RUSH ON POT LEGISLATION

Alberta's NDP government is warning Ottawa not to rush on marijuana
legalization but isn't calling for pending federal legislation to be
halted.

Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley said Tuesday there is much work that
will need to be done after the Liberal government introduces its
legalization bill, which is expected this spring.

She suggested the legislation should be subject to considerable
deliberations through the House of Commons committee process.

"We need time to consider these things but we need to consider them
once we've seen what the feds are doing," Ganley told reporters at the
provincial legislature.

"I think they have gotten the message we need time to work out our
processes around theirs."

Ganley said unsettled questions that need to be addressed include
which level of government will be responsible for regulating
production and distribution.

"Those are the big broad brushstrokes around it and then there are a
whole bunch of things that will need to be regulated," she said,
citing fire safety codes, regulation of the concentration of marijuana
in edible products, legal consumption age and medical exemptions.

Marijuana-impaired driving and the distribution of potential tax
revenues are also significant issues yet to be dealt with.

Ganley made the comments after Manitoba's Premier Brian Pallister said
Tuesday he wants the federal government to postpone its marijuana
legalization bill because there are still too many details to work
out.

"We've done a fair bit of preparatory work here and research, and the
more we do, the more we unlock complexities that need to be addressed
that are not minor things," Pallister told reporters Tuesday.

- - with files from Emma Graney, Trevor Howell and The Canadian Press
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MAP posted-by: Matt