CANNABIS DAY, 2018
This July 1 is Canada’s big 150th-birthday bash. But July 1, 2018 could be a more interesting celebration. That’s the date, according to reports, when marijuana might finally be legal. In a weekend news leak that had the added benefit of diverting attention from an insipid federal budget, CBC reported the Liberal government will unveil its marijuana legalization bill in the next few weeks. Under it, federal authorities would take charge of licensing producers and regulating suppliers.
It would set 18 as the minimum legal age for use, though provinces could set it higher.
Unveiling the bill would be only the start: Justin Trudeau must still get it through tough scrutiny by a Commons committee, then pass the uncertain hurdle of Senate signoff.
The sooner legislation is unveiled, the better. Provincial attorneys general, such as Ontario’s Yasir Naqvi, have been chairing their own ministerial and expert groups to develop a robust provincial regulatory system, no easy task given a) they haven’t seen the federal bill yet; and b) pop-up marijuana shops continue to proliferate. (In an interview Monday, Naqvi stressed that these businesses are still illegal. He made no suggestion that prosecutions should stop.)
Ontario’s priorities in regulating cannabis will be: protecting youth and vulnerable people; promoting health and safety, including road safety; and prevention and harm reduction.
All of that will cost money, so a good chunk of the anticipated tax revenue from marijuana sales will be swallowed up quickly. What else might the federal bill — and corresponding provincial regulations — look like? If they follow, as they should, the recent recommendations of the federal cannabis task force chaired by Anne McLellan, we might see the following:
municipal smoking bans and regulations extended to cannabis and vaping of cannabis products;
plain packaging, and very strict labelling rules;
tax revenue from cannabis sales split between the federal government and the provinces, then dedicated to education, prevention and treatment;
cannabis not permitted to be sold anywhere near where liquor or tobacco products are purchased. While some have mused about selling marijuana via the LCBO, the McLellan task force recommended strongly against that sort of combination. Naqvi could not say how Ontario plans to permit sales; he needs more details from the feds first.
Driving is still a big question; how to accurately tell if someone is impaired from marijuana use? Ontario has already changed the Highway Traffic Act to allow those “impaired” to be charged, not just those “intoxicated.”
But more science is needed here. We favour pot legalization. The sooner the government clears the haze around its bill, the better. – Christina Spencer for the Citizen editorial board