Legalize and tax marijuana and the budget will balance itself. Marijuana advocates from stoners to recreational users to the prime minister have tried to convince us of this. But they're all wrong. It makes some sense that a product so commonly used should be regulated rather than criminalized, sending its newly enabled taxation revenues to the public coffers. Unfortunately, recent federal announcements and the examples of two American states tell us that a fiscal boon from legal pot is nothing more than reefer madness. [continues 489 words]
To effectively combat substance abuse, marijuana tax funds should primarily be invested in prevention and education On November 10, the Canadian federal government announced an excise tax plan that will be implemented when marijuana is legalized next summer. The plan proposed an excise tax of $1 per gram, or 10 per cent of the producer's sale price, with the higher amount of the two being charged. The plan is still in its consultation stage, and there are sure to be many changes over the next few months. Hopefully the fact that education and prevention tactics provide better long-term solutions to addressing substance abuse than punitive mechanisms will guide future discussions about the tax plan. Moving forward, marijuana legalization should be approached mainly as an issue of public health - the revenue from legalization can play a major role in ensuring appropriate solutions to substance abuse are implemented. [continues 876 words]
In this divided nation, we should be able to at least find common cause in the fight to stop and treat opioid addiction, a scourge that knows no single identity, and that does not respect geographic boundaries or common socio-economic factors. This is a fight we must all take up, arm in arm, because in one way or another it affects all Americans. Indeed, the more we know about this menace to our national health, the worse it seems. According to a new analysis released by the Trump White House, the opioid addiction crisis may already be much worse than previously thought. According to the White House Council of Economic Advisers, the true cost of the crisis, as of 2015, stands at $504 billion, a figure more than six times the most recent estimate. [continues 405 words]
Occasionally, Alberta's NDP government manages to demonstrate that it is capable of balance and pragmatism. Unfortunately, that also underscores the frustration of so frequently seeing them do the opposite. In preparing for legalized cannabis, the NDP must have been awfully tempted to follow the advice of their friends in the labour movement and build a network of government-built and government-operated retail outlets. But other than a pre-existing ideological bent, there really wasn't a case to be made for such an approach. The costs would be considerable, and there would not necessarily be any corresponding payoff in terms of better outcomes. Moreover, it would simply delay the rollout of legalized cannabis and prove to be a gift to the black market. [continues 556 words]
On a flight home last week, I was having a conversation about the introduction of Bill C-45 or the "Cannabis Act." The person I was talking to is working with local governments to sort out the multitude of bylaws and regulations which will be necessitated by the legislation. Different municipalities are taking varying approaches and have disparate points of view on the whole issue. After all, not everyone is in favour of legalizing marijuana nor sure what exactly that means. [continues 719 words]
Alberta and Quebec recently unveiled their strategies for the commercialization of legal marijuana The socialist NDP is embracing the free market, while the freemarket Liberals seem to prefer the old-style state monopoly. That is just one of the quirky realities as the provinces and territories slowly and unsurely unveil their strategies for the commercialization of legal marijuana. Currently, only "medical" cannabis is legal. It must be prescribed and purchased from one of 74 licensed producers. More than 200,000 Canadians have availed themselves of this privilege. [continues 661 words]
Known for his mishandling of Veterans A airs, corruption scandals within his constabulary and, shall we say, colourful comments on race and marijuana, former Toronto and Ontario police chief Julian Fantino is launching a pot business with a former RCMP senior leader. It has rightly been met with outcry. It exposes not only his personal hypocrisies but also those of the pot legalization process. A focus on criminalizing personal use rather than public health concerns (i.e., accessibility to children, mental health issues) has contributed to the circumstances that make young Black and Indigenous people known to police. Along with carding, illegality of marijuana has introduced more young racialized, especially Black, people to the criminal justice system than is patently fair. [continues 348 words]
Sometimes it takes someone from outside Canada to make us realize what a great thing we have going. A few years ago, a Brazilian investment firm, 3G Capital, bought Canadian coffee icon Tim Hortons. In 1995, Labatt Brewery was swallowed up by Interbrew from Belgium, which was in turn merged with AmBev, also from Brazil. Richard Baker, an American, saw the potential in Hudson's Bay Co., which was struggling at the time, and paid more than $1.1-billion in 2008 for the 80 per cent of the chain that he didn't own (although his stake has since been reduced). [continues 671 words]
The rules governing legal marijuana sales in Alberta, released by the NDP government on Thursday, are a bit uptight. Really!? Licensed pot dispensaries won't be able to sell customers tortilla chips at the same time they sell them a 4g bag of Purple Kush or Grape Ape or Bubba Rockstar? Do the NDP truly believe that consumption of Doritos leads to overdosing on weed use rather than the other way around? What's the problem with letting Albertans kill two cravings with one stoner? [continues 432 words]
The ramifications of legalized marijuana keep popping up, as governments try to prepare for the new reality that is rapidly approaching. Municipalities are at the sharp end of the issue. As so often happens, they will have the bulk of the responsibility, while having the least power and the fewest resources. Victoria city council has offered a list of suggestions to the provincial government, as the province tries to answer its own slice of the many questions about the production, sale and use of marijuana. The city's list gives a taste of the many possibilities that policymakers have to foresee. [continues 507 words]
Having worked as a police officer for many years, I have to admit, it requires a shift in thinking to look at marijuana as a legal substance. Countless policing hours were dedicated to keeping it out of our homes, schools and communities, but the future will be different. Since the federal government announcement earlier this year, the law enforcement community began work to determine what public safety issues might arise with the availability of legal marijuana. Much of the public discourse was simple: legalize it, regulate it, tax it and use the revenues for everything, from health care to education spending. Unfortunately, it is not that simple from a public safety perspective, and the Delta police, along with our policing partners have done a great deal of work to identify and address key issues. [continues 302 words]
The Alberta government's proposed rules for selling legal marijuana are a bit fuddy-duddy. For the most part, they're pretty good. Private retailers will handle in-person sales; unionized government workers will be in charge of online purchases. (Please allow six to eight weeks for delivery). What the Notley government is proposing is very likely a workable system. It will not eliminate illegal weed sales entirely. But it will make buying bud convenient enough that most people will be persuaded to go the law-abiding-citizen route. [continues 550 words]
Be smart. Not stupid. As we travel down the road to pot legalization in Canada, provincial governments across the country are scrambling to update a number of laws, including impaired driving rules. Here in Alberta, the government has announced its changes to impaired-driving legislation. The NDs plan to impose a maximum $1,000 fine for a positive blood test of two to five nanograms per millimetre of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), along with a minimum $1,000 fine for a first-time conviction on a reading above five. [continues 315 words]
Pot rules largely workable but ban on weed sales at liquor stores makes no sense The Alberta government's proposed rules for selling legal marijuana are a bit fuddy-duddy. For the most part, they're pretty good. Private retailers will handle in-person sales; unionized government workers will be in charge of online purchases. (Please allow 6 to 8 weeks for delivery). What the Notley government is proposing is very likely a workable system. It will not eliminate illegal weed sales entirely. But it will make buying bud convenient enough that most people will be persuaded to go the law-abiding-citizen route. [continues 550 words]
Politics Everything is political in the months before an election. And that's especially true for where the pot stores are going to be located. Earlier this month, 14 locations were announced for provincially-run recreational cannabis stores. One of those will be in Kitchener. Mayor Berry Vrbanovic said he wasn't surprised "in light of our size, the fact that we're the eleventh-largest region in the country." I'm not surprised either, but I think it's about politics, not size. [continues 460 words]
It's late afternoon and you receive a text message: 'Friends coming for dinner. Please pick up wine.' You pull into the neighbourhood liquor store, pick up a bottle of your favourite wine and head home. A familiar scene taking place across the province every day. When you go into your local liquor store, you have confidence knowing that you're buying a quality product in a secure environment, with stores conveniently located in every community across the province. B.C.'s public and private liquor stores have a proven track record over many decades, selling controlled alcohol products to adults in a responsible manner, with more than a 90 per cent compliance rate in restricting sales to minors. [continues 533 words]
B.C. lobbying to preserve producers' licences as hectic spring looms While the New Democrats prepare to do their share on marijuana legalization, they are also lobbying Ottawa to preserve the province's position as one of the leading producers of what has been called B.C.'s largest cash crop. "The reality is this," said solicitor general Mike Farnworth, lead minister on the file for B.C. "We have had in this province an industry that's been in place for a very long time. Some of it underpins the economy, for example, no surprise, in the Kootenays, certain parts of Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and the coast." [continues 837 words]
The busywork of readying the country for legalized cannabis continues apace, and Ottawa has gotten around to mapping out the murky territory that is stoned driving. Proposed legislative changes would create a two-tiered approach to setting the maximum amount of THC, cannabis's main psychoactive element, allowable in drivers' blood. Motorists measured with two to five nanograms of THC per millilitre of blood within two hours of being stopped would be subjected to a fine; those above would be treated criminally, mirroring the way many provinces deal with alcohol and driving. [continues 270 words]
Alberta will bear heavy up front costs as Ottawa grabs half the tax on cannabis sales Under the proposed federal tax on pot, Alberta will run a cannabis deficit for several years, according to provincial officials. This is not an appealing prospect for a government with no shortage of other deficits. It explains why Finance Minister Joe Ceci said last week: "I'm not sure what the federal government is smoking but I can tell you ... this is not going to work for Alberta." [continues 605 words]
One was the chief of police for Toronto, London, York Region and the OPP. The other spent 34 years putting away bad guys as a member of the RCMP, retiring as deputy commissioner of Federal and International Policing. In the past, if former police chief Julian Fantino or onetime RCMP officer Raf Souccar were talking to you about cannabis, it would be time to quickly head for the door or maybe even call a lawyer. Not anymore. Fantino and Souccar now fight for the benefits of marijuana: The legal kind that is. The kind used for medical purposes. [continues 553 words]
