Pubdate: Tue, 06 Dec 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: Antonella Artuso
Page: 5

POT USERS FEEL 'CHEATED' BY PM

Recreational marijuana users who worked hard to elect Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau feel "cheated" by his support of a police crackdown on
storefront dispensaries, a cannabis industry spokesperson says.

Abi Roach, a director with the Cannabis Friendly Business Association,
said marijuana consumers helped the federal Liberals gain a majority
government based on an expectation that he would allow small
businesses to sell weed legally to recreational users.

Trudeau has promised to introduce legislation designed to legalize pot
in the spring. The crackdown that has occurred under Trudeau has been
stricter than under any previous government, including that of former
Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, she said.

"All we've seen is raids and arrests and more criminal records and
more issues and more problems," Roach said. "When Trudeau was elected,
I cried ... We campaigned our butts off for Trudeau because we wanted
him to win so bad because we believed what he was saying ... Wow, was
I cheated or what. I think that's the way most cannabis consumers
feel." While the police busts of storefront pot dispensaries have
received most of the media attention, Roach said it's the stealth
campaign by city bylaw officials that is truly hurting. Landlords who
rent to these businesses are being contacted by city officials,
pressured to break "legal" leases with the dispensaries, she said.

"We have always made it clear that our plan to legalize, strictly
regulate, and restrict access to marijuana will be designed
responsibly, with those objectives in mind: to keep it out of the
hands of children, and take the profits away from criminals," Trudeau
spokesman Cameron Ahmad told the Sun in an e-mail. "Until the law
changes, the law remains the law - and the Prime Minister was
reiterating his expectation for it to be followed."
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MAP posted-by: Matt