TORONTO - Ontario landlords want the right to immediately ban the use of pot in rental properties when recreational weed is legalized this summer, arguing they should be allowed to change tenants' existing leases to stop the drug from being consumed in their units.

Some marijuana users say, however, that the situation would leave renters with few places to legally use weed, given the province's already restrictive rules around the drug.

Under rules announced in the fall, the province plans a ban on recreational pot consumption in public spaces and workplaces, allowing it only in private residences. Medical marijuana use will be permitted anywhere that cigarette smoking is allowed, the legislation says.

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Better dust off that recipe for hash brownies.

A new poll says more people are expressing approval of cannabis edibles.

The Forum Poll interviewed 1,022 voters in Ontario and found that more than half approve of the sale of baked goods, drinks and other food items that contain marijuana.

In the two years since the last survey, that approval number has moved up six points (from 46% to 52%); likewise, the numbers of those who disapprove of the sale of such items has gone down from 43% to 37%.

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Eating weed gummies at work? Marijuana rules may take a decade to sort out

A customer walks into a downtown marijuana dispensary to browse the hash menu for the perfect after-lunch pickup. Another flicks through images in an online store, planning to purchase a selection as a hostess gift.

Like it or not, this will be the reality across Canada after the proposed Cannabis Act (Bill C-45) comes into force this summer.

Depending on which province or territory you live in, if you are of legal age to purchase marijuana, you will soon be able to drop into a licensed store or order it online from the comfort of your own home.

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Province publishes legislation for public input

Ontario is considering licensing lounges where people can consume marijuana when the drug becomes legal across Canada, according to regulations published by the province for public comment.

The province also wants the public to weigh in on the idea of apartment and condo owners being allowed to designate areas outside where residents could smoke or vape.

The proposals modify the province's plan to ban marijuana use in all public places, essentially restricting people to consuming it at home. Critics have pointed out problems with that approach. Children could potentially be exposed to second-hand smoke and vapour in their homes. And apartment and condo dwellers who live in no-smoking buildings would have no place to consume cannabis.

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Thirty years ago, approximately 60 per cent of the Canadian population smoked. Now, thanks to the efforts of Garfield Mahood and others like him, that percentage of smokers has declined to about 30 per cent - great!

But wait a minute! Now the federal Liberal government under the direction of someone who has used marijuana is rushing to legalize and promote the use of this drug, mainly by smoking or adding it in some other form for "recreational" purposes. It is also being touted by the premier of Ontario, who claims she has never used the stuff, and while you need not be a chicken to know what an egg looks like, she apparently has no clue about the dangers and cost associated with the use of recreational drugs.

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Pharmacies push to dispense medical cannabis

TORONTO * Shoppers Drug Mart has lined up a third cannabis supply agreement as part of its ambition to dispense the drug amid what experts say is increasing support among pharmacists to distribute medical pot and expectations that the regulatory framework needed will come to fruition.

The latest deal, announced Friday, is with B.C.based licensed marijuana producer Tilray Canada Ltd. to supply branded medical cannabis products and is conditional upon Health Canada's approval of Shoppers' application to dispense medical marijuana.

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Temporary facility overdue 'because with every tick of the clock, someone else's life could end,' says ex-addict

In a city where drug overdose deaths in the first three weeks of 2018 have nearly matched the entire 2017 death toll, there's finally an answer.

Or at least a good start. Advocates say London's newly unveiled overdose prevention site at 186 King St. - the first of its kind in Ontario - is key to stemming the tide of overdose deaths in the city.

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A four-pillared strategy to combat the region's opioid crisis was unveiled Friday by local officials.

They zeroed in on improving treatment options, public awareness, physician and patient education, availability of the anti-overdose drug naloxone and harm reduction measures like needle disposal boxes and investigating a safe-injection site.

"We can call it a crisis because it is affecting our community hard and our average rate of opioid-related death is way higher than the provincial average," acting medical officer of health Dr. Wajid Ahmed said at a morning news conference to announce the strategy that's been a year in the making.

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Re: "Amnesty for marijuana busts discussed at Liberal retreat," Jan. 12.

It seems that when it comes to getting pot users votes, the Trudeau government will do anything. That is why we are about to legalize pot, with the many unintended harmful consequences that will mean for our children and the degradation of our cities from pot tourism. No government should contemplate retroactively erasing records that resulted from laws that were legally passed by Parliament. Doing this would mean opening a Pandora's box, whereby others who also committed crimes they believe did not warrant criminal convictions will want their records erased. A dangerous precedent would be set by such a politically motivated move.

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(Re: High drivers concern cops, Jan. 18 edition)

When Canadian Chiefs of Police said they are simply not ready to enforce new rules, once pot is legalized next summer, one major concern was the anticipated increase in pot-impaired drivers on Canadian highways and lack of a simple roadside test for actual impairment. The alternative would be for the police having to take suspected pot-impaired drivers to a hospital to have blood extracted.

I can just imagine the court challenges that would result in. A simple roadside test should be made available before pot is legalized.

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As we rapidly approach marijuana legalization, the government has yet to explain how they'll tackle the organizational nightmare that comes with granting amnesty to those convicted of simple possession and other pot-related crimes.

Tens of thousands of Canadians have criminal records due to convictions for pot possession. When legalization comes into effect, there will no longer be any reason to keep punishing those who were convicted of pot-related crimes in the years beforehand.

In an editorial in The Toronto Star, the editorial board makes a case for offering amnesty to those convicted of pot possession. 17,733 people were charged with possession of pot in 2016 alone(link is external), and those charges will follow them throughout their lives without a pardon.

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Local police preparing for legalization of marijuana and detecting impaired motorists

With the legalization of recreational marijuana looming on the horizon, local law enforcement aren't letting the grass grow under their feet.

One of the largest concerns for city police is a potential increase in the amount of impaired motorists on the road.

"If a lot more people are using it, or openly using it, we're going to have those issues of how do we deal with the people that are putting other people at risk by driving under the influence of marijuana?" said Belleville Police Staff Sgt. Rene Aubertin.

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RE: Safe injection sites in Hamilton

One needs only to stroll just north on John Street at King Street to see what the methadone clinic has done to our downtown core. Pretty much all the buildings on both sides of the clinic (east side of John) are closed and boarded up. As my time as a police officer walking the beat in the core, I broke up many a fight out front of the clinic, and arrested a number of drug dealers hanging around preying on the meth addicts.

We don't want another repeat of this "communal disaster plan" in our core!

Michael Csoke, Mount Hope

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Three deaths, two hospitalizations, 48 hours.

It doesn't get much scarier.

As if the deadly opioid drug crisis sweeping London and the rest of Canada isn't alarming enough, London police amped up their warnings about the fallout Wednesday in the wake of three suspected drug overdose deaths and two hospital emergency cases spread over several days this week.

The move came as city police and the Ontario Provincial Police held a rare joint public information meeting Wednesday night about the dangers of fentanyl, the most sinister opioid drug and one that's already been implicated in deaths in Southwestern Ontario.

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The provincial government will decide where to locate a new cannabis store in Peterborough, states a new city staff report - city council won't have any say in the matter.

Peterborough is getting a new government-run cannabis store by July 1, but it's unclear where exactly it will be located.

City council won't be allowed to weigh in on the choice of location, states a new report that councillors will review at a meeting Monday.

That will be up to the province, although the government has said it won't locate these new stores anywhere near schools or homeless shelters.

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Health Canada's consultation with Canadians on the regulation of marijuana is down to its final days. But what exactly does the government wants us to comment on?

Do officials want us to question the stated objectives? Or perhaps they want us to ask why they're being dishonest about their consultation process?

We're in the middle of an opioid crisis that has already killed thousands of Canadians and will likely kill thousands more. That clouds this conversation.

Yet our experience with other drugs and even ordinary consumer products tells us that government regulations to protect public health by ensuring product safety and quality control are extremely important.

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The legalization of marijuana on July 1 will lead to an increase in the number of impaired drivers, a legal expert warns.

"When cannabis becomes legally available to purchase at the age of 18 . . . we can expect rate of use among young people and rates of drug-impaired driving to rise significantly," said Robert Solomon, a law professor at Western University who specializes in alcohol and drug policy.

He also acts as the national director of legal policy for Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada.

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Local doctors are worried about marijuana addiction once it becomes legal July 1, city council told

The exact location of a new marijuana store will be selected by the provincial government sometime in February, the city solicitor told councillors Monday night.

Patricia Lester told city councillors at meeting that staff has insisted a government-run pot shop not be located near a school, homeless shelter or food bank.

Although the province can locate its stores wherever it wants, Lester said the concerns of cities such as Peterborough are being heeded: the government has vowed not to put its shops next to schools or shelters.

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If drug users shouldn't be treated as criminals, then Canadians who have criminal records for pot possession convictions should receive amnesty

The Trudeau government's decision to legalize marijuana was a welcome and overdue acknowledgement of what has in recent decades become a truism of both the health and justice fields: Treating pot smokers as criminals is a costly, dangerous mistake.

The government is right that the prohibition on pot has driven up the cost of policing, contributed to a national crisis of court delays, compounded racial and class inequities and unnecessarily criminalized people for doing something that by and large poses little threat to them or others - all without delivering the promised benefits for public health or public safety.

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Organization recognizes officer of the year

North Bay police Const. Mitch Thomas is surprised how many people still get behind the wheel after consuming alcohol.

Thomas arrested six people for impaired in 2017 and was recognized during Tuesday's monthly police services board meeting as the Mothers Against Drunk Driving officer of the year.

Thomas, who has been an officer for the past three years, said he still remembers the first motorist he charged with impaired.

"It was a gentleman from out of town. We got the call just after the bar rush," Thomas said.

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