With target date pushed back twice, government spokesman says there is no need to impose time allocation in the Senate to speed up process Ottawa is acknowledging for the first time that legal recreational marijuana will not be for sale until August or September. The federal government initially promised to legalize cannabis before July 1, before giving itself until the end of July. Bill C-45 makes it clear that cannabis will become legal at a date set by cabinet, not when the legislation passes. [continues 637 words]
Late decision will push back legal sales of weed until August or even Labour Day OTTAWA- Canadians will have to wait until at least early August - and maybe as late as early September - to legally purchase recreational marijuana. That's the bottom line now that senators have struck a deal to hold a final vote by June 7 on the legislation that will usher in the legal cannabis regime. As recently as last week, the Trudeau government was insisting it was on track for legalization in July. But given the Senate timetable, Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor conceded Thursday that's not going to happen. [continues 531 words]
Re: "Cannabis: City asks for public feedback" in the Feb. 7 issue of the Nelson Star. I want to voice my disappointment with this article. We don't have a municipal business licence, but the Nelson Cannabis Compassion Club isn't a for-profit business. Since March, 2000 we have been licensed by the province as a non-profit organization, incorporated under the Societies Act. The licensing and regulating of which is the jurisdiction of the province. Also in the Feb. 7th 2018 issue Pam Mierau says, "Our assumption is they (medical dispensaries) will be treated like anybody else who is looking to set up a retail store here, and they'll have to go through the same process , and they won't have any advantage over anyone else." "But we're not sure." Well, she shouldn't be sure as there is a major difference between a recreational user of cannabis and a medical user. It's called the Chart of Rights and Freedoms. Recreational users don't have charter protections and medical users do. Even the provincial government realizes this. If you look at their announcements around the retail sales of recreational cannabis they use the same term "non-medicinal cannabis" over and over again. [continues 120 words]
Why are people expecting to have marijuana-conviction charges removed from their records and/or expecting compensation for any prison time they may have served? They knowingly broke the law at the time. I don't think any of them would be admitting to their habit if the government were announcing that they were going to criminalize it. Compensating people for breaking the law would be a waste of taxpayers' money. Brian Slade, Pitt Meadows [end]
Public awareness of possible harm from marijuana use will be part of a public campaign in the coming days as July approaches when the federal government will legalize the use of the drug. "We will have a public education campaign around the legalization of cannabis," a spokesperson for the Alberta Cannabis Secretariat said in an email. "However, the details of public education coming from the federal government have not yet been finalized." Federal government details are necessary first in order to ensure there are no duplicated efforts at the provincial level. [continues 344 words]
Alberta outlines specifics on cannabis sales Alberta expects to issue 250 licences for cannabis stores this year, and says anyone who wants to run a weed shop will first undergo an exhaustive check ranging from tax records to mob ties. "We believe that our regulations will strike the right balance," Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley said Friday in Calgary as she unveiled the new regulations for marijuana distribution. "The system that we are putting in place in Alberta will create an environment in which retailers can legally sell cannabis and provide access to safe products while keeping the health and safety of Albertans in mind." [continues 503 words]
Political manoeuvres in upper house likely to push legalization date into September - well past the Liberals' original July 1 target If you were hankering for a summer of legalized marijuana in Canada, you can forget it. And you can thank Canada's newly independent - but unelected - Senate for delays. There is now a firm deadline for passage, but it wasn't the deadline the Trudeau government, and some provinces, wanted. If this was a strictly political gambit, there are those who would finger the culprit, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, as the man who directed his Senate caucus to put the brakes on government legislation, choosing partisan battles over sober second thought. [continues 660 words]
I just spent the morning reading Bill C-45, the new cannabis law. I discovered under the section for possession, it states that a youth (12 to 18) who possesses more than five grams of dried marijuana will be charged under the Youth Criminal Justice Act but does not mention anything about amounts under five grams or under age 12. Given all the science-based facts on the effect of cannabis on developing brains I find this to be a very careless section. The argument concerning ruining a young person's life with a record is made moot since the offence is dealt with under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. [continues 81 words]
Bowman wants help getting promised provincial funding for infrastructure OTTAWA - Mayor Brian Bowman says he wants Ottawa to push the Pallister government to cough up more funding for infrastructure projects in the city, and to also give the city a handsome portion of tax collected from legalized marijuana. "The challenge many of the big city mayors are having is ensuring that those funds are flowing through the provinces, and getting to municipalities to support municipal priorities," Bowman said Thursday, on the sidelines of the Big City Mayors' Caucus in Ottawa. [continues 676 words]
Both the Nova Scotia and federal Liberal governments are blowing the chance to rectify years of anti-black prejudice with their marijuana legislation. For years, the government's "tough on crime" strategy gave police officers carte blanche to harass people of colour. Now that the government has decided to legalize recreational marijuana, they have no plans to issue pardons for marijuana possession convictions. Thousands of people have been charged with pot possession over the past decade. Things got so bad under the Harper government that the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police advocated for ticketing to replace criminal charges for simple possession. [continues 700 words]
Decriminalization is the right move , say James Hutt and Emilie Taman. Canada's overdose crisis is getting worse, not better. In 2016, there were 2,861 opioid-related deaths. Last year, there were more than 4,000. All of them were preventable. As the NDP gathers in Ottawa this weekend for its national policy convention, many hope that this issue will be front and centre. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has already indicated that he favours the decriminalization of all drugs - not because it's the popular but because it's the right thing to do. [continues 551 words]
If, five years ago, someone had asked me how I felt about cannabis, I'd assume they were a cop. Even the term "marijuana" - a word believed to be brought to the United States by Mexican migrant workers before the Prohibition era, which was later used to promote racist anti-pot messaging - was a red flag to discreet and casual users such as myself. Weed, cheeba, ganja, sticky-icky, dank nugs - terms the community has appropriated from Rastafarians, West Coast hippies, rappers and Indian yogis: These are the words that would have communicated familiarity and, therefore, acceptance of the habit. But what do you call it now that Canada has developed a sophisticated legal medical program and is close to passing its recreational cannabis legislation? Well, from black-market producers to young workers in illegal dispensaries to the burgeoning, optimistic legal industry: We've all agreed to say cannabis. [continues 1184 words]
The ongoing effort in the Senate to derail the passage of the Liberal government's bill to legalize marijuana is not an exercise in sober second thought, as its Conservative proponents claim, but an attempt to obstruct democracy. The Trudeau government should use the tools at its disposal to push this important legislation through the Upper House. Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act, and C-46, which would tighten rules on impaired driving related to marijuana use, have been before the Senate since the Commons passed them in late November. And they may languish there forever if the government does not invoke so-called time allocation, a tool for curtailing debate that the Liberals have largely eschewed. [continues 491 words]
Fentanyl. The drug is one that most people never even heard of until a few years ago. Now it strikes fear into the hearts of public health officials, youth workers, parents and others. A few grains of fentanyl, often mixed with another recreational drug without the user's knowledge, can cause death within minutes. It has caused thousands of overdose deaths in Canada and tens of thousands in the U.S., and those numbers are rising rapidly. How have we dealt with this crisis? The primary strategy has been to supply naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effects of fentanyl, as widely as possible to police officers, health care providers and others who are likely to encounter people who have overdosed. The use of naloxone is a "harm reduction strategy", intended to reduce the negative consequences of using fentanyl, and it has saved many lives. But it is not enough. Overdose deaths from fentanyl continue to increase even after widespread distribution of naloxone kits. We desperately need another strategy. But what kind of strategy would work? [continues 652 words]
B.C.'s approach to the issue seems prudent to most observers and is based on some of the lessons learned in other jurisdictions. Marijuana will be legal, but it won't be a total free-for-all, either. Much to the relief of local politicians, municipalities will have a big say about who gets one of the coveted provincial pot shop licences. That means those operators who have been the subject of court action, or who've caused major headaches where they've set up in advance of the legal starting line might not be at the front of the line. [continues 229 words]
Police seize 5.8 kg in January - half of what was seized in 2017 MAKE no mistake: Winnipeg has a meth problem. That's the message city police drove home Thursday at a lengthy news conference, painting a dark picture of a city in the grips of a methamphetamine epidemic and the strain placed on front-line services that are trying to contain the street drug. "The emergence of methamphetamine that we're experiencing in our community is getting to the level where it's starting to keep me awake at night," Winnipeg Police Service Chief Danny Smyth said. [continues 944 words]
Twenty years ago this Sunday, when Ross Rebagliati was told he had tested positive for a banned substance, he didn't have to ask which one. It was THC, an active ingredient in marijuana, and it was going to cost him the first Olympic gold medal ever awarded in snowboarding. Three decades later, Rebagliati still has his gold medal, Canada is five months away from fully legalized weed sales, Rebagliati owns his own major medicinal cannabis supply company (the pun-ish Ross' Gold), and snowboarding is a lot more mainstream. [continues 923 words]
Surrey mulls over 'missteps' from U.S. cities that have legalized marijuana Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner says the city has developed a "balanced, appropriate and evidence-based approach" in preparing for the expected passing of the Trudeau government's Bill C45 Cannabis Act this coming July. "Like all governments, the City of Surrey must determine the changes needed to ensure an effective response to cannabis legalization," Hepner said. "Our report was prepared following a comprehensive review of best practices in jurisdictions of the United States with legal recreational cannabis markets. Council and I have directed staff to implement the necessary steps outlined in the framework over the coming months." [continues 630 words]
Town wants 'cautious' approach; hearing on Tuesday With cannabis legalization just months away, the District of Tofino is considering a bylaw that would heavily restrict where pot shops can operate in the community. A public hearing is set for Tuesday. People will be able to weigh in on the proposed bylaw, which would "prohibit the use of any land, building or structure for the sale, production or distribution of cannabis," according to a notice of public hearing on the district's website. [continues 340 words]
Marijuana legalization for someone my age is somewhat difficult to imagine. As a teenager growing up in the early 1970s in Cape Breton, I strayed off the approved path (like thousands of my peers across our beautiful island and millions more across our country) and smoked marijuana. At the time it was a serious criminal offence and government officials made it a priority to do everything possible to eliminate its usage as they believed the drug was poisoning the minds of our youth across the entire country. [continues 180 words]
