Pubdate: Wed, 14 Dec 2016
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2016 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: John Ivison
Page: A1
Referenced: http://mapinc.org/url/spC7LQBu

POT PANEL STRIKES A FINE BALANCE

The task force charged with drawing up a framework for cannabis
legalization in Canada has struck a fine balance between providing
access to a regulated supply that should undermine the black market
and introducing restrictions that minimize the harm associated with
pot.

The nine-member panel, chaired by former Liberal minister Anne
McLellan, was asked to make recommendations that will have
implications for all Canadians for years to come.

There can be no doubts that we are about to witness widespread changes
to the laws and culture of our country.

The task force made a good fist of balancing the input from the 30,000
submissions from individuals and organizations that it received. The
key recommendations weigh the impact of developmental harm to
vulnerable populations, with the risks that are already present
because of the black market.

The task force recommended the national minimum age of purchase be 18,
except in those provinces where the legal drinking age is 19. This
proposal was made in the face of opposition from public health experts
who favoured a minimum age of 21.

The panel said it felt setting the minimum age too high risked
preserving the illicit market.

But, while it will have pleased producers with its age limit
suggestion, they will be less amused by the recommendations on
advertising and packaging.

The biggest battle the government will face if it decides to implement
the report is the proposal to restrict the advertising of cannabis, in
similar fashion to the promotion of tobacco.

The panel went a step further by suggesting the government require
plain packaging for cannabis products. so that only the company name,
price and the strength of the pot is visible on the label. The
industry has long argued that strong brands and product
differentiation matter in a new market.

Still, existing producers will take solace in other recommendations
that helped send cannabis company stock prices soaring.

The task force suggested the current federal system for medical
marijuana be used as a starting point for a new national system,
meaning a continued role for the 36 existing licensed suppliers who
produce Health Canada-approved pot.

New producers would be encouraged to enter the market but would have
to comply with the strict rules currently in place to meet safety and
quality standards.

Concerns were raised by potential entrants that the cost of compliance
with security regulations would shut them out of the market and hurt
competition. But McLellan said Canada needs to show caution, as only
the second country to proceed to full legalization, and that the
federal government should continue to regulate production.

But, while regulation over safety and quality is understandable, the
panel veered into murky territory with the call to use production
controls, in the early days of the new market, to influence pricing.
Mention of "controls to align supply with likely demand" to avoid
oversupply sounds doomed to failure - the fleet-footed black market
would run rings around a lumpen quota-setting bureaucracy.

Yet there was also an appreciation that market forces will prove too
powerful to control.

The panel recognized higher prices will lower use but that, if they
are too high, consumers will be pushed toward the illicit market. The
task force warned against repeating the mistakes of Washington state,
where a high tax at the start of legalization, combined with a
shortage of legal product, strengthened the black market.

In contrast to its recommendation to impose production controls, the
task force concluded that governments set up a "flexible system" that
can adapt tax and price approaches to changes in the marketplace. It
suggested that taxes be increased with potency to discourage purchase
of stronger products.

Nowhere is the complexity of legalizing cannabis more apparent than in
the task force's treatment of pot-impaired driving.

There is simply no equivalent to the per se limits that apply to drunk
driving.

The task force was forced to acknowledge the scientific and law
enforcement limitations in its recommendation that Ottawa and the
provinces develop a national public education strategy to send the
message to Canadians that cannabis causes impairment.

The panel said experts made it clear it is not a new challenge - the
criminal offence of driving impaired exists today - but that the
levels of the drug in bodily fluids cannot be used as a reliable
indicator about the degree of impairment.

"There was little agreement among experts on what the limit should
be," it said.

But that was a rare fudge. For the most part, the task force has
produced a workable, sensible framework for the sweeping changes that
the birth of legalized cannabis will bring to Canada's health and
justice systems, not to mention its retail and food and drink sectors.

This government has shelved major reports it didn't like in the past -
last April, it ignored the most contentious findings of a
parliamentary committee report into assisted dying.

But the McLellan marijuana task force has produced solid
recommendations that are unlikely to suffer a similar fate.
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MAP posted-by: Matt