Queen's Park has not decided how Ontario will structure its marijuana retail model

Premier Kathleen Wynne is keeping an open mind about what - if any - role the Liquor Control Board of Ontario will have in the recreational marijuana business.

In her first public statement since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's federal task force on legalization released its recommendations Tuesday, Wynne was noncommittal when asked about the LCBO's involvement in cannabis sales.

"I really believe that this is all in process and I think it's good that we're starting to hear some directional information from the federal government," she told reporters in Montreal after a meeting with Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau campaigned to legalize pot in the 2015 election campaign. This federal task force report on the subject, released this week, offered no quick fix to the complex issues surrounding legalization, and the sensible recommendation that the Liberals proceed slowly.

The 106-page report made more than 80 recommendations, including restricting pot sales to those 18 and older, banning sales near schools, banning pot advertising and branding (similar to tobacco products) and a new, proposed Cannabis Control Act to police illegal production and trafficking.

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Three people involved with a downtown Saskatoon medical marijuana dispensary before it was raided in 2015 have been committed to stand trial on trafficking-related charges.

The preliminary hearing for Mark Phillip Hauk, Lane Anthony Britnell and Jaime Michelle Hagel wrapped up in Saskatoon provincial court on Thursday.

Hauk owned the Saskatchewan Compassion Club, Britnell was an employee, and Hagel was a volunteer. Each faces four charges: one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking marijuana, two counts of trafficking marijuana and one count of possessing proceeds of crime over $5,000.

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Say what you will about his methods, but Canada's self-proclaimed "Prince of Pot" knows how to make an entrance.

Throngs of admirers stood in the snow Thursday and cheered Marc Emery on as he rolled up to the opening of an illegal marijuana dispensary on Mont-Royal Ave. He held court in the shop for half an hour as he made an impassioned case for the legalization of pot - logic-based arguments honed over a career of marijuana advocacy.

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The federal government is adopting a public-health approach to its drug control strategy, Health Minister Jane Philpott said Monday as she unveiled proposed new measures that would open the door to more supervised injection sites in Canada.

Newly tabled legislation would, if passed, eliminate 26 strict requirements for new "consumption" sites put in place by the previous Conservative government, all within parameters set out by the Supreme Court, Philpott said.

"We need to take swift action on the opioid crisis to save lives," she told reporters, describing the current fentanyl crisis as national in scope. "We must confront the fact there will be no quick reversal of the current situation."

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Hospital should own its role, and help foot bill, in fallout from faulty drug tests, CAS head says

Children's aid societies are calling on the Hospital for Sick Children to "step up" and own the role it played in the Motherisk scandal that saw faulty drug and alcohol hair tests used in thousands of child protection cases.

Mary Ballantyne, executive director of the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies (OACAS), said Sick Kids, which housed the discredited Motherisk Drug Testing Laboratory, should do more to assist in the significant efforts underway to deliver justice to those affected.

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Pot and booze don't go together. According to a report released Tuesday from the federal task force on marijuana legalization, marijuana, once it's legalized, shouldn't be sold in the same place as alcohol.

That, of course, runs contrary to what Premier Kathleen Wynne and her government want in Ontario; they've floated the idea of selling it at government-run LCBOs.

But the report from the task force, headed up by Anne McLellan, a former Liberal cabinet minister and four-term MP for Edmonton Centre, says there are big problems with selling alcohol and pot together. For instance, it notes that some 80 per cent of Canadians drink, while only 11 per cent use marijuana. "There is a significant risk of cannabis and cannabis advertising being introduced to a large number of Canadians who might not otherwise use cannabis," the report declares.

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Reading the 106-page report of the Task Force on Cannabis Legalization and Regulation, with its determinedly bland cover design and its epically drab title, "A Framework For the Legalization and Regulation of Cannabis in Canada," it's hard to shake the urge to blow off a little steam by sparking up a great big bowl of

Whoa! Wrong attitude! Sorry about that. Lord forbid anyone suggest that the point of legalizing marijuana in Canada is to increase the amount of fun anybody might be having.

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MONTREAL - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, but that doesn't mean Canada will turn into a giant, smoke-filled set for a Cheech and Chong movie.

If Mr. Trudeau adopts the recommendations of a panel he appointed, marijuana's move from the black market to the open market will be highly bureaucratic, heavily taxed and tightly controlled, with advertising and promotion virtually banned.

"The government doesn't want to have a country consuming marijuana," said Bruce Linton, the chairman and chief executive of Canopy Growth, which owns Tweed, one of 36 companies currently allowed to grow and sell medical marijuana. "They want a system for those who choose to consume it."

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When the recreational use of marijuana becomes legal in Canada in the next few years, how old should you have to be to join in the fun?

This issue - the legal age for buying and consuming cannabis - is the biggest single challenge facing the federal Liberals as they rewrite the law on this popular, but potentially harmful, drug.

A federal task force this week provided 80 recommendations for opening up the market for recreational pot. Most of the suggestions, which include permitting storefront and mail-order sales as well as allowing individuals to buy or carry up to 30 grams for personal use, are both reasonable and workable.

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There are lessons for Canada in Washington State, which got a quick reality check about the market for recreational weed

About a year ago, I visited Seattle to see how pot legalization was going. Not well, as it turned out.

A few years earlier, Washington State became one of the first U.S. jurisdictions to vote in favour of legalizing and regulating the sale of marijuana for recreational use. In 2014, the system designed to manage the commercialization process was operational - and it didn't take long for some early grumbling to become a nascent revolt.

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There's more to Paul Kelly's observations (Reefer Madness, Dec. 9, 2016). North American's contempt for cannabis (marijuana) prohibition is greater than any time in history. Citizens are no longer waiting on government to end the farce. Prohibitionists have lost their platform and the only thing left is to create regulations, which are acceptable to the increasing majority. People expect to be able to grow cannabis and purchase it in regulated markets.

Further, cannabis has never been illegal in the eyes of its creator; powerful people have illegitimately been enabled to punish citizens for using what God indicates He created and says is good on literally the very first page of the Bible. God and cannabis are winners.

Stan White

Dillon, Colorado

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Agencies won't have to wait to have applications sped up: Minister

B.C.'s health minister believes health agencies won't necessarily have to wait for federal legislation to pass before having their existing new safe injection site applications sped up.

"Even under that existing regime I know the minister's officials at Health Canada have talked directly to Vancouver Coastal Health to try to expedite the two applications that they have at the moment," said Terry Lake at the opening of an emergency mobile medical unit in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

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Ottawa has tabled a bill aimed at easing restrictions on the facilities, a 'good sign' according to one Toronto city councillor

Municipal politicians in Canada's two largest cities are optimistic that new legislation aimed at clearing the path for more supervised consumption sites means they will finally be able to offer the harm-reduction service next year.

Ottawa on Monday tabled Bill C-37, which would overturn yet another piece of Conservative era legislation and advance the Liberal government's plan to approach drug use as a public health issue.

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Incoming packages will be inspected if there are reasonable grounds to be suspicious. This is vital when you are dealing with deadly substances like fentanyl and carfentanil. Ralph Goodale Public Safety Minister

The federal government has unveiled a series of measures aimed at curtailing Canada's booming underground market in fentanyl, just as the death toll climbs and more communities sound the alarm about illicit drugs.

Under Bill C-37, tabled in the House of Commons on Monday, pill-press machines used in clandestine labs to manufacture bootleg fentanyl could no longer be imported into Canada, and border guards who inspect goods coming in would have broader powers to seize and open suspect packages.

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KITCHENER - Grand River Hospital is joining local public health, pharmacies and Sanguen Health Centre in distributing life-saving naloxone kits to those who might be susceptible to an opioid overdose.

The hospital in conjunction with the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council announced a pilot project this week in which the emergency department will distribute naloxone to those patients at risk of an opioid overdose.

Patients can be recreational users or those on prescription opioid medication.

"We are another piece in the puzzle. It's another venue where people can receive these kits and we can reach people in need," said Dr. Rupinder Sahsi, emergency room physician at Grand River Hospital and St. Mary's General Hospital.

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Victoria shouldn't follow Vancouver's lead in considering property-tax increases to cover additional costs associated with fentanyl overdoses, says Mayor Lisa Helps.

"I think that by levying a property tax for something that is a health facility takes the pressure off the provincial and federal governments to provide health services," Helps said. "I don't think this is a good idea."

Coun. Chris Coleman, however, is sure the issue will come up in budget deliberations next month. "I know the mayor wasn't terribly pleased [with the idea] because she thought it was giving an out to senior levels of government. But if that's your logic model, then we shouldn't be involved in homelessness," Coleman said. "But we are because it's something that we see on our streets. We could make the same argument with fentanyl."

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Portable unit used for Olympics moving to Downtown Eastside

The province's mobile medical unit has served as a MASH-like emergency room at the Olympics, festivals and outside hospitals mid-renovation. And on Tuesday, it will start saving lives in the Downtown Eastside.

Inside a tent with all the necessary equipment and staffed with a half-dozen emergency doctors plus nurses and paramedics, the mobile unit will operate 18 hours a day for as long as it's needed in the fight against opioids, officials said.

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Chain sells to recreational users who are over 19 years of age

'Prince of Pot' ready to set up shop in Plateau Canada's self-described "Prince of Pot" is expanding his chain of illegal marijuana dispensaries into Montreal as of Thursday, according to sources.

A blogger made the announcement on marijuana advocate Marc Emery's online magazine last week. His wife, Jodie, posted a cryptic tweet on Dec. 8, counting down the days until the dispensary's Montreal debut.

Two sources close to Emery have confirmed he intends to open as many as three dispensaries in the Plateau-Mont-Royal neighbourhood.

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We need to take swift action on the opioid crisis to save lives.

The Sandy Hill Community Health Centre has asked the province for $1.4 million a year to operate a supervised injection site seven days a week, 12 hours a day in downtown Ottawa.

The estimated cost has more than quadrupled since a plan for the service was unveiled earlier this year.

Rob Boyd, director of the health centre's harm reduction program, said costs have gone up as the service model changed in response to the public's feedback - and to the quickening pace of the opioid epidemic. Community members, he said, made it clear they want drug users to be able to access the centre's medical, social and counselling services whenever they visit the injection site.

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