Medical officer of health expects regulations will evolve

Chatham-Kent's medical officer of health is remaining neutral on a provincially operated cannabis store slated to open next year.

However, Dr. David Colby admits he's intrigued by how it might play out in the communities that were announced as part of the first phase.

"It will be very interesting to see how society reacts to this," he told The Daily News on Thursday.

It was recently announced that Chatham-Kent will have a retail cannabis store by July of next year.

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Will weed be the new booze?

Will a culture so tied to alcohol switch allegiance once recreational cannabis is readily and legally available?

A recent study out of the University of Connecticut looked at alcohol sales in jurisdictions with medical marijuana, and found the two substances to be substitutes, with monthly booze sales falling 13%.

A 2016 Deloitte study predicted some alcohol consumers will migrate to legal recreational marijuana.

Dan Malleck, associate professor in Health Sciences at Brock University, said the U.S. study looked at medical marijuana, and the findings suggest that people are switching if they're using alcohol to self-medicate for conditions like stress.

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Expect the unexpected.

That sage advice from Dan Rowland, director of public affairs for Denver, Col., comes after more than five years of experience dealing with the legalization of cannabis and its ripple effects.

"I think it's imperative that governments, whether it's the provincial level or the local level, set themselves up to be nimble and flexible," he said. "There's a ton of education that needs to happen.

"Even for savvy consumers, there's going to be a regulated marketplace for this, so they need to know what that means, as well."

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'A year of growth … year of finding our feet'

WATERLOO REGION - When police chief Bryan Larkin talks about harm reduction and being more humane with the drug user, he gets pushback.

When he suggests supervised injection sites may be an alternative to help users take their drugs safely and the site will save lives, he gets pushback.

And when he flies the Pride flag at police headquarters, he gets pushback. In each case, he gets criticism from people in the community and sometimes from officers, too.

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Where have all the dirty needles gone? Mayor's efforts have made a difference

This past Thursday, on a wickedly cold afternoon, I combed the same Yonge-Dundas Sts.-area alleyways where dirty needles have proliferated, particularly since the opening of Toronto's first harm-reduction site.

While we saw plenty of drug paraphernalia buried in the snow - orange needle caps, blue gloves, water bottles used as bongs and even remnants of a Naloxone kit - we found no needles.

Perhaps the cold contributed to the fact that patrons of The Works on Victoria St. are not shooting up outside. However, Mayor John Tory's cleanup efforts appear to be working.

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Is Ontario keeping too tight a lid on pot?

Premier Kathleen Wynne faced that question at a town hall meeting Wednesday night in Brampton, where about 250 citizens - some with anger in their voices - grilled her about high local auto-insurance rates, health care, workers' compensation, the Tarion new home warranty system, the rising minimum wage, the recent five-week community college strike and other issues.

"Can we not have the private sector?" one young man asked as the clock ticks down to the legalization of marijuana across Canada on July 1.

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Re Legal pot set to cost $10 a gram, Dec. 12

It is clear that the legalization of marijuana will fail its stated objectives and we are on track for another costly boondoggle that will implicate the health and well-being of Canadian society for many years to come.

The stated objectives are to keep cannabis out of the hands of children and to keep profits out of the hands of organized crime. Legalization will achieve neither. Legalizing something legitimizes it. Children will now see marijuana as a safe legal product denied to them only due to their age.

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TORONTO - Ontario adolescents are drinking, smoking and using cannabis and other recreational drugs at the lowest rates since the late 1970s, suggests a biennial survey of Grade 7 to 12 students by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

But the 2017 survey released Thursday turned up a disturbing finding: almost one per cent of respondents in Grades 9 to 12 reported having taken illicit fentanyl in the previous year, raising a red flag given the opioid's involvement in hundreds of overdose deaths across the country.

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Federal service drops case involving cannabis activist whose charges were stayed last month

Federal prosecutors have decided to drop their appeal of a court ruling that dismissed charges against a prominent B.C. cannabis activist.

Dana Larsen was arrested in Calgary during a national tour to give away millions of marijuana seeds to the public.

On Monday, Larsen said in Vancouver that the Crown's appeal was to be heard July 2 in the Alberta Court of Appeal.

But after a review this week, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada said it is dropping the case.

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The federal Crown has decided to drop its appeal of a ruling dismissing charges against a prominent cannabis activist who was arrested in Calgary during a national tour to give away millions of marijuana seeds to the public.

On Monday, Dana Larsen said he was served notice at his home in Vancouver and the case was to be heard July 2 in the Alberta Court of Appeal. But after a subsequent review this week, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada said it is dropping the case.

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He may not be able to change it but that doesn't mean he has to like the new law allowing people to grow their own pot plants.

"Personal cultivation is something I personally really struggle with as a citizen, a parent and a police chief," Cape Breton Regional Police Chief Peter McIsaac said during the recent Police Commissioners meeting.

"It's a view shared pretty consistently in the policing community across the country."

When the Cannabis Act comes into effect in July 2018, Canadian adults will be allowed to grow four plants at home, up to a height of 100 cm. This is about waist high on an average adult.

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Politicians voice their concerns over 'little information' available, possible impact on community

A number of York Region mayors have come out against proposed marijuana stores in their municipalities.

East Gwillimbury Mayor Virginia Hackson has joined regional colleagues Richmond Hill Mayor Dave Barrow and Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti in speaking out against the possibility of a marijuana dispensary coming to the municipality.

"My concern at this point is there is so little information about what it would look like. What are rules and regulations?" Hackson said.

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Drug may do more harm than good, say critics

VANCOUVER * There is little to no research to support the supposed benefits of medical cannabis, and what evidence exists suggests that using marijuana as medicine may do more harm than good, family doctors' associations across Canada are telling their members.

A trio of advisories prepared by the Alberta College of Family Physicians has been distributed to more than 32,000 clinicians, summarizing the scientific literature, or lack thereof, around medicinal marijuana.

"One thing that was quite consistent was adverse events," said Dr. Mike Allan, a professor of family medicine at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. "And the benefits, even if they're real, are much smaller than what people might anticipate."

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Clark says municipalities will have extra costs for policing, services

Mayor Charlie Clark says cities like Saskatoon will face the toughest financial challenges when marijuana is legalized in six months, and he wants to make sure sufficient resources exist.

Clark said he welcomed the news from the federal government this week that 75 per cent of the expected $400 million in revenue from taxes on marijuana will go to the provinces.

Now, Clark said he would like a clearer picture from the provincial government on how that will work in terms of funding the municipal response to legalized cannabis.

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An argument against the legalization of marijuana

We should not let underground drug lords pressure us into legalizing something that could be quite harmful for our health.

During his election campaign, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to legalize marijuana if we chose him as our leader. That day is near, and marijuana might be legalized on Canada Day 2018. Such a decision should not be taken lightly. Our country is not ready for this change.

To clarify, I don't want to come across as cynical. I know that medical marijuana has its place in treating patients with chronic or terminal illness. I also don't agree with throwing people in jail for carrying small amounts for personal use. I see this as a waste of time, money and resources. At the same time, however, I don't think that the legalization of marijuana is what our country needs. And I certainly don't think it will make our country healthier, happier or safer. The decision to legalize marijuana has implications for health, society and our youth

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Complaints about marijuana dispensaries have increased each year since the City of Vancouver implemented a licensing regimen in 2015. But even after three years of consecutive growth, the number remains relatively small.

In 2015, there were 30 complaints, according to data supplied by the city. Then 84 in 2016 and 112 in 2017 (up to December 6).

For comparison's sake, so far in 2017 the city has received 348 complaints about other business categories (excluding illegal housing suites and short-term rentals like those on Airbnb). Meanwhile, this year there have been 5,529 complaints about potholes and 7,734 about streetlight outages.

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While details deserve review, it's crucial not to wait for the legalization of cannabis, Marc Gold writes.

Bill C-46 would allow police to demand that a driver suspected of having a drug in their body provide a saliva sample.

Every holiday season, volunteers for Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada (MADD) distribute red ribbons to remind us of the lives lost due to impaired driving. Look around over the next few weeks, and you'll find them on key chains, car antennas and pinned to jackets.

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Certain cannabis crimes ... will vanish altogether, thus resulting in less enforcement.

The city's claims that cannabis legalization is going to be a big money loser for them should certainly not be taken with a grain of salt, but rather, a few kilos of it.

Or, to put it another way, what are they smoking down at city hall?

A council committee last week heard the details on administration's latest estimates around the cost of legalization: about $10 million or so a year, or about the equivalent of a one per cent increase in property taxes.

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The legalization of marijuana promises to provide governments with a tidy little windfall. That's the dirty secret the country's finance ministers didn't want to talk about when they were cutting up the cash this week. But it's true.

To hear the provinces talk, you'd think legalized cannabis would be nothing but a drain on their revenues. They complain that the legal pot regime will be more costly to police than the current illegal one - - without exactly explaining why.

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WHEN politicians talk about the arrival of legal cannabis, they make it sound like it's going to be more trouble than it's worth.

Oh, the worry. According to the narrative coming out of the federal and provincial capitals, legalizing pot is going to involve enormous costs with very little return, in terms of tax revenue.

There are expected to be increased costs for provinces and municipalities in the areas of law enforcement, public education, health care and addictions treatment at a time when governments of all levels are having trouble generating the revenues needed to sustain core services.

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