By Jane Sims
Until Canada’s pot law goes up in
smoke, there’s nothing hazy about whether cannabis lounges and
unregulated marijuana dispensaries are legal.
And while the recommendations of a federal government task force,
released Tuesday, would loosen up the law, one top London police
official said they’ll continue to keep a close tab on marijuana hot
spots.
“Right now, they’re illegal,” said deputy police chief Daryl
Longworth. “If the government changes that around, obviously we’ll
respond accordingly.
“But until such time things are illegal, we have a duty to look into them and take some action.”
The federal task force on legalized recreational marijuana is recommending storefront and mail-order
sales to Canadians 18 and older — the age limit higher in provinces
like Ontario, where the legal age to buy alcohol is 19 — with personal
growing limits of four plants per person.
Headed by former Liberal cabinet minister Anne McLellan, the 106-page
report gives shape to a Liberal promise to legalize recreational pot
use and sales, but with safeguards to restrict youth access and choke
off the illegal market that fuels crime.
But in the fallout of the report’s release, there were questions on a
wide range of issues, from the minimum age for legalized pot use, to
enforcement and how much pot people could grow on their own.
The report — the Trudeau government has said it will bring in
legislation to legalize pot next spring — could provide some solace to
London medicinal pot dispensaries that have faced charges and police
raids.
Once of them, the recently-opened Tasty Budd’s, was raided in August and the owners are facing charges.
“(S)orry @ this time we have no comment,” was the quick emailed
response from the company, when asked to comment on the task force’s
recommendations.
But Longworth and Chris Mackie, the London region’s medical officer
of health, are applauding the report but say they want more information
about how its recommendations — if adopted — would be enforced.
Many questions remain, including when legal marijuana would be
available, its cost, what the government would do with the revenue and
how it would get a better grip on the crime of drug-impaired driving.
“From the policing perspective, our only hope and our only ask of the
federal government is that they really do their due diligence to look
at all the issues and make sure the proper mechanisms are in place, the
proper inspections are in place and the standards are in place to ensure
everybody’s safety as this moves forward,” Longworth said.
He said he hopes consideration will be given to the staffing needed
to enforce new regulations that he says shouldn’t fall to the local
police.
One area he pointed out as a red flag is allowing a legal homegrown stash of four marijuana plants.
“Home production, from a policing perspective, certainly presents a
lot of issues, such as lack of control over potency and the plant
yield,” he said.
Green thumbs will grow better plants. There are the concerns about
robberies, break-ins, fire hazards, inspections and building codes.
That proposal is far different than what’s allowed now, a federal law
that limits the sale of marijuana for medicinal use to a few dozen
producers approved by Ottawa.
Longworth said he’s also “keenly interested” in more study of
drug-impaired driving and that “proper tools and mechanisms are in place
to do what we have to do.”
He said in American states that have legalized marijuana, there are increases in drug-impaired cases.
He also pointed to recent local studies pointing to more youth using
marijuana “as well as the perception by a number of youth who wouldn’t
think twice about smoking up and hopping into a car.”
While drinking-and-driving education campaigns seem to have reached
young people, there has to be an education piece on marijuana and
driving, he said.
The proposals set a minimum age limit for marijuana sales at 18, unless a province or territory’s legal age is higher.
But 18 or 19 is still too young for developing brains, Mackie said.
“We know adolescence is an important period of brain development and
that smoking marijuana at the adolescent period can have a serious
impact on how the brain develops,” he said.
“Eighteen, frankly, isn’t old enough to eliminate that risk. When
people are 18, they are technically adults, so they can make adult
decisions, but there’s still a health risk there.”
Mackie said he’s also concerned the law won’t address the dangers of second-hand smoke.
“Marijuana smoke creates similar health risks to tobacco smoke, so
you have a risk of lung cancer, a risk of emphysema with heavy use,” he
said.
The report recommends mail-order and storefront sales that are
heavily regulated and away from schools, community centres and public
parks.
Storefronts wouldn’t be able to sell liquor or tobacco – a blow to
the Ontario government’s proposal to sell pot through its liquor
monopoly, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.
But Mackie said it doesn’t matter where pot is sold, as long as its
in a controlled environment by people who are trained and licensed.
“I don’t know whether LCBO is the best place to do that or whether it
should be through a pharmacy . . . but it should definitely not be
teenagers selling out of corner stores,” he said.
As for allowing limited home-grown pot, Mackie suggested that could
stop users from being exposed to harmful drugs like Fentanyl that are
being used to lace street drug sales.
“When a person is controlling their own production, there’s a potential to reduce that risk,” he said.
Mackie applauded the report for setting up a potential framework for a
new law and reducing the illegal trafficking that only benefits
organized crime.
But, he added, has a lot of questions still.
“There’s more work to be done to make sure we are protecting the public’s health there,” he said.
Pot proposals from the task force report
Allow storefront and mail-order sales for recreational marijuana use.
Minimum age to buy 18, but higher if, like Ontario, age of majority is 19.
Sales should not be handled by alcohol retailers, like Ontario’s LCBO.
Allow alcohol-free cannabis lounges and ‘tasting rooms.’
Keep those and sales operations away from schools, parks and the like.
Set personal growing limits at four pot plants per person.
Pot advertising and branding would effectively be banned.
Tax higher-potency pot at a higher rate than weaker marijuana.
Limit personal possession to a maximum 30 grams.
Allow for what the report calls “social sharing” of pot.
More study of link between pot’s active ingredient and traffic crashes.
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