Pubdate: Wed, 14 Dec 2016
Source: London Free Press (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 The London Free Press
Contact: http://www.lfpress.com/letters
Website: http://www.lfpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/243
Author: Jane Sims
Page: A1
Referenced: http://mapinc.org/url/spC7LQBu

HAZE LINGERS, EXCEPT FOR COPS

Despite federal report, deputy chief insists police have duty to take
action until laws change

Until Canada's pot law goes up in smoke, there's nothing hazy about
whether cannabis lounges and unregulated marijuana dispensaries are
legal.

And while the recommendations of a federal government task force,
released Tuesday, would loosen up the law, one top London police
official said they'll continue to keep a close tab on marijuana hot
spots.

"Right now, they're illegal," said deputy police chief Daryl
Longworth. "If the government changes that around, obviously we'll
respond accordingly.

"But until such time things are illegal, we have a duty to look into
them and take some action."

The federal task force on legalized recreational marijuana is
recommending storefront and mail-order sales to Canadians 18 and older
- - the age limit higher in provinces like Ontario, where the legal age
to buy alcohol is 19 - with personal growing limits of four plants per
person.

Headed by former Liberal cabinet minister Anne McLellan, the 106-page
report gives shape to a Liberal promise to legalize recreational pot
use and sales, but with safeguards to restrict youth access and choke
off the illegal market that fuels crime.

But in the fallout of the report's release, there were questions on a
wide range of issues, from the minimum age for legalized pot use, to
enforcement and how much pot people could grow on their own. The
report - the Trudeau government has said it will bring in legislation
to legalize pot next spring - could provide some solace to London
medicinal pot dispensaries that have faced charges and police raids.

Once of them, the recently opened Tasty Budd's, was raided in August
and the owners are facing charges.

"(S)orry  this time we have no comment," was the quick emailed
response from the company, when asked to comment on the task force's
recommendations.

Longworth and Chris Mackie, London region's medical officer of health,
are applauding the report but say they want more information about how
its recommendations - if adopted - would be enforced.

Many questions remain, including when legal marijuana would be
available, its cost, what the government would do with the revenue and
how it would get a better grip on drug-impaired driving.

"From the policing perspective, our only ask of the federal government
is they really do their due diligence to look at all the issues and
make sure the proper mechanisms are in place, the proper inspections
are in place and the standards are in place to ensure everybody's
safety as this moves forward," Longworth said.

He said he hopes consideration will be given to the staffing needed to
enforce new regulations that he says shouldn't fall to local police.

One red flag is allowing legal homegrown stash of four pot
plants.

"Home production, from a policing perspective, certainly presents a
lot of issues, such as lack of control over potency and the plant
yield," he said.

Green thumbs will grow better plants. There are concerns about
robberies, break-ins, fire hazards, inspections and building codes.

That proposal is far different than what's allowed now, a federal law
that limits the sale of marijuana for medicinal use to a few dozen
producers approved by Ottawa.

Longworth said he's also "keenly interested" in more study of
drug-impaired driving and that "proper tools and mechanisms are in
place to do what we have to do."

He said in American states that have legalized marijuana, there are
increases in drug-impaired cases.

He also pointed to recent local studies pointing to more youth using
marijuana "as well as the perception by a number of youth who wouldn't
think twice about smoking up and hopping into a car."

While drinking-and-driving education campaigns seem to have reached
young people, there has to be education on marijuana and driving, he
said.

The proposals set a minimum age limit for marijuana sales at 18,
unless a province or territory's legal age is higher.

But 18 or 19 is still too young for developing brains, Mackie
said.

"We know adolescence is an important period of brain development and
smoking marijuana at the adolescent period can have a serious impact
on how the brain develops," he said.

Mackie said he's also concerned the law won't address the dangers of
second-hand smoke.

"Marijuana smoke creates similar health risks to tobacco smoke, so you
have a risk of lung cancer, a risk of emphysema with heavy use," he
said.

The report recommends mail-order and storefront sales away from
schools, community centres and public parks.

Storefronts wouldn't be able to sell liquor or tobacco - a blow to the
Ontario government's proposal to sell pot through its liquor monopoly,
the LCBO.

But Mackie said it doesn't matter where pot is sold, as long as it's
in a controlled environment by people who are trained and licensed.

As for allowing limited homegrown pot, Mackie suggested that could
stop users from being exposed to harmful drugs like Fentanyl. "When a
person is controlling their own production, there's a potential to
reduce that risk," he said.

Mackie applauded the report for setting up a framework for a new law
and reducing illegal trafficking that only benefits organized crime.

- ------------------------------------------------------------

[sidebar]

Pot proposals from the task force report

* Allow storefront and mail-order sales for recreational marijuana
use.

* Minimum age to buy 18, but higher if, like Ontario, age of majority
is 19.

* Sales should not be handled by alcohol retailers, like Ontario's
LCBO.

* Allow alcohol-free cannabis lounges and 'tasting
rooms.'

* Keep those and sales operations away from schools, parks and the
like.

* Set personal growing limits at four pot plants per
person.

* Pot advertising and branding would effectively be
banned.

* Tax higher-potency pot at a higher rate than weaker
marijuana.

* Limit personal possession to a maximum 30 grams.
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MAP posted-by: Matt