Privacy of legal pot buyers must be protected: experts

Buyers who have to provide personal information to purchase recreational pot online after legalization this fall should be able to rely on existing laws to protect their privacy, but the issue needs to be watched closely to ensure regulations are obeyed and mistakes are avoided, experts say.

The matter is important, given the stigma many still attach to marijuana use, and the potential for Canadians to be barred from the U.S. if their legal indulgence becomes known to American border agents.

“We need to keep eyes on it, meaning we have to make sure this information is not abused or used for secondary purposes that were never intended,” said Ann Cavoukian, Ontario’s former privacy commissioner and now an expert at Ryerson University.

A spokeswoman for federal Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien said the office hadn’t looked specifically at online marijuana sales. At the same time, the commission said it recognized privacy concerns around buying or using marijuana, given its longtime status as a controlled substance.

“The legal sale and use of both medicinal and recreational marijuana raises privacy issues, particularly since laws and regulations differ from country to country, and even within countries,” Tobi Cohen said.

Last week, Ontario’s new Progressive Conservative government announced that consumers 19 or older will have to go online to buy weed after it becomes legal on Oct. 17 because private retail stores won’t be up and running until April. The Ontario Cannabis Store will run online sales.

Online buyers will have to provide a name, email, delivery address and payment information. In Ontario, buyers will be able to order as a “guest” without creating an account.

Scott Blodgett, spokesman for the Ministry of Finance, said buyers must provide proof of age via government-issued ID, which a delivery person will verify but not copy.