Pubdate: Tue, 25 Apr 2017
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2017 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Sunny Freeman
Page: FP1

MARIJUANA TASK FORCE HEAD SEES ROLE FOR BLACK MARKET PRODUCERS

TORONTO * Black market marijuana growers should be included in the
legal market as they can provide valuable expertise as it evolves,
says the chair of the federal government's task force on
legalization.

Anne McLellan said Monday that Ottawa's Task Force on Cannabis
Legalization and Regulation, whose recommendations were broadly
adopted in the government's proposed Cannabis Act, concluded that
previous criminal convictions during marijuana's century of
prohibition "shouldn't be an automatic bar to them coming into the
legal system."

"We didn't want all those people excluded automatically from the
possibility of participating in some way," McLellan, now a senior
advisor at Bennett Jones LLP, said in an interview on the sidelines of
a conference on cannabis regulation organized by the Ryerson
University in Toronto.

The task force's November report called on the federal government to
set up a system that allows various-sized producers to participate,
including independent and craft growers.

"There are lots of people who are producing now illegally - we talk
about artisanal and craft producers - we want a diversity of
producers," McLellan said.

"There's an awful lot of expertise that's outside the legal system
right now and you wouldn't want to lose all that." Some Canadian pot
activists, including Marc and Jodie Emery, have expressed their
disappointment that the draft legislation sets up a system that
favours "big marijuana" because the federal government will strictly
regulate and license who can produce the plant for sale. Under the
current medical marijuana regime, Ottawa has handed out some 40
licences to produce, a small fraction of the number of applicants.

However, McLellan points out that producing, manufacturing or selling
pot are not the only economic opportunities in the coming
multi-billion dollar legal marijuana market.

"There are other ways for people to be involved in this industry.
People focus on production or manufacturing, retail, and that's all
important, but that's only the most visible part," she said. "A lot is
going to happen here and there are so many access points for people to
be involved."

There are also a plethora of weed-related businesses - from
fertilizers to security services to payment processors - carving
niches in the space ahead of legalization expected in July 2018.

McLellan said the task force was not mandated to examine the question
of whether to grant amnesty to those convicted of marijuana offences,
even though that had been part of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's
previous platform on ending the prohibition.

Ultimately, McLellan told a panel at the Ryerson University, the
decision on the degree to which black market operators can participate
is up to the federal government.

"There are people on the activist side who are disappointed. But I
think they should celebrate what has happened to date and work with
everybody in this space," she said.

"But people have to understand that legalization was never going to
happen without regulation because we do not sell product to consumers
without consumers having the basic information to know whether it's
safe."
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MAP posted-by: Matt