Marijuana task force launched
POLICY SHIFT
The Liberal government sounded Canada’s formal retreat from the long war against marijuana Thursday with the launch of an expert task force to search out how pot should be produced, sold and consumed for recreational highs as early as next year.
The nine-member panel, led by former veteran Liberal cabinet minister Anne McLellan, is to deliver its advice to government by November. Legislation is to be tabled in Parliament next spring to end the 93-year criminal prohibition against simple possession of marijuana for non-medical, personal use.
The policy shift is a recognition that criminal justice and the money spent on policing, prosecuting and jailing pot smokers have failed to combat the weed. The new Liberal plan for legal but strictly regulated sales is chiefly aimed at keeping the drug away from adolescents and their developing brains while choking off an estimated $7 billion in annual blackmarket sales for organized crime.
“If we’re going to achieve our aims of protecting our kids, getting organized crime out of this …. and doing everything possible to ensure whatever is consumed by Canadians is as healthful as we can make it, then ensuring that an effective and comprehensive regulatory framework is put in place to control the production, distribution and the consumption of marijuana (is required) in order to achieve those aims,” Liberal MP Bill Blair, former Toronto police chief and the government’s point man on pot, told a news conference Thursday.
The pivot to legalization, however, leaves the Liberals in the awkward position of defending police and prosecutors’ continued enforcement of the soon-to-be non-crime of simple possession. Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould made the warning again at the news conference announcing the task force.
“It is important for Canadians to remember that while this process unfolds, the current criminal laws on marijuana remain in force,” she said. “The government of Canada supports efforts by federal, provincial and municipal law enforcement to enforce these laws.”
McLellan, a former Edmonton MP, served as minister of health, justice and public safety before becoming deputy prime minister in Paul Martin’s government. Task force vice-chair Dr. Mark Ware, from McGill University, heads the International Association for Cannabinoid Medicine. Member Dr. Susan Boyd, from the University of Victoria, holds degrees in criminology and clinical psychology and is a noted authority on drug policy and law.
During McLellan’s time in cabinet, the Liberals introduced two unsuccessful bills to decriminalize simple possession with softer penalties. McLellan was accused then of being a “puritanical zealot” over her opposition to full legalization.
Speaking at Thursday’s news conference, McLellan said, “a lot of data has been collected and analyzed and a much higher degree of understanding of the landscape over this past decade, and I think speaks clearly to where we are today.
“So many people have come to the conclusion, for a number of reasons, that the current situation is not working and we need a better way forward. And I have myself concluded that legalization with a regulatory regime such as the task force will be exploring is the way forward.”
The other members of the task force are: George Chow, a former Vancouver city councillor; Marlene Jesso, a senior Newfoundland and Labrador police officer with extensive drug enforcement experience; Dr. Perry Kendall, provincial Officer of Health for British Columbia; and Rafik Souccar, a retired RCMP deputy commissioner who spent much of his career combating illicit drugs and organized crime.