Canada - Parliamentary hearings on cannabis legalization

[S.J.B.]

Federal pot plan set for scrutiny at parliamentary hearings
Kathleen Harris
CBC
September 9th, 2017

Medical and legal professionals, police officers and pot producers are among the dozens of witnesses lined up to field questions from MPs this week about public health issues related to the looming legalization of marijuana.

The House of Commons health committee is returning to Parliament Hill a week early, holding five full days of uninterrupted hearings beginning Monday.

Committee chair and Nova Scotia Liberal MP Bill Casey said the goal is to have a focused, concentrated approach that will likely amount to several months' of work in just one week.

"We have a lot to learn and a lot to listen to," he told CBC News.

Some of the key issues Casey will be keeping an ear out for from a public policy perspective will be around preventing the contamination of cannabis growing facilities, the four-plant allowance rule and a minimum 18-year age of access.

Read the full story here.

 

[S.J.B.]

'Naive' to think criminal element will end with pot legalization, senior Mountie tells MPs
Brennan MacDonald
CBC
September 11th, 2017

A senior RCMP officer says it would be "naive" to think organized crime in the cannabis market will be eliminated with the legalization of recreational marijuana.

"We're very cognizant to realize that the chances of crime being eliminated in the cannabis market — [it] would be probably naive to think that could happen," Joanne Crampton, RCMP assistant commissioner for federal policing criminal operations, told MPs on the Commons health committee studying the government's legislation.

Crampton highlighted areas that give the RCMP concern, including the undercutting of legal prices by the illegal market, exportation, trafficking to youth and organized crime infiltrating the legal regime.

While most members of Parliament still have another week before they return to Ottawa, MPs on the health committee were back Monday to begin hearing testimony from medical and legal professionals, police officers and pot producers on the looming legalization of marijuana.

"We know that it is going to take some time to fully displace a sector that has over a century made a good gain in this area," said Kathy Thompson, an assistant deputy minister in the Department of Public Safety.

Read the full story here.

 

[S.J.B.]

Police say it could be 'impossible' to train officers for legal pot market — and want an extended deadline
Marie-Danielle Smith
National Post
September 12th, 2017

OTTAWA — Police are warning it could be “impossible” for law enforcement to get trained up in time for legal marijuana in July 2018.

Testifying at a House of Commons health committee Tuesday, police leaders expressed concerns about the Liberal government’s impending deadline to create a legal weed market. Organizations will need to know the new laws and regulations backwards and forwards before they can prepare their officers for duty, they said.

Mike Serr, deputy chief constable and chair of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police drug advisory committee, said the government should consider extending its deadline. “We ask that established legislative framework be put in place prior to legalization that will provide law enforcement with clear direction and assistance regarding funding and training,” he said.

The deputy commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police for investigation and organized crime, Rick Barnum, explained at least six or seven months of lead time would be necessary to ensure police forces are adequately prepared. For example, if a legal framework isn’t in place until July of next year, “it’s impossible” for officers to be ready by August, Barnum said.

Noted Thomas Carrique, deputy chief of the association, the repercussions of opening a legal market before police are ready would inevitably extend beyond the correctional system. Poor decisions by officers, based on inadequate or rushed training, could trickle into the courts system and result in “bad case law” being established under the new rules, Carrique said.

Read the full story here.

 

[S.J.B.]

Well, the usual suspects are coming out to do whatever they can to undermine and delay legalization. How could the police possibly claim that it would "impossible" to be trained in time for legalization? First of all, the proposed legislation and the date it is supposed to come into force have been available for months now. Secondly, the only substantial change they will have to deal with will be not arresting people. Is that really so difficult to train for? Carrique's line about "bad case law" being established is absolutely preposterous. He's just spewing nonsense about a subject that he knows nothing about, as police are wont to do.

 

[S.J.B.]

With legal pot, Colorado and Washington are winning fight against black market, committee hears
Maura Forrest
National Post
September 12th, 2017

Legal pot in Colorado and Washington is successfully competing with the black market, the House of Commons health committee heard Tuesday, though illicit sales still account for a sizable portion of the market.

But don’t expect legal marijuana to reduce use of the drug among young people, one expert warned.

Officials from both states said legal marijuana prices have dropped dramatically since recreational sales began in 2014. Sam Kamin, a professor of marijuana law and policy at the University of Denver in Colorado, said there are now calls for a price floor in his state, as prices are dropping low enough that there are concerns about the drug becoming too accessible to young people.

In Washington, which was initially criticized for charging too much tax and making it difficult for the legal market to compete with illicit sales, the tax system was replaced in 2015 with a single excise tax of 37 per cent. While prices of $25 and $30 a gram were being reported in 2014, they dropped to about $10 a gram a year ago and are now at less than $8, compared to black market prices of $9 to $11 a gram at the time of legalization, said Rick Garza, director of the state’s liquor and cannabis board.

Legal sales picked up as prices dropped, he said, and he estimates they now account for 50 to 65 per cent of the market. “I think the size of the marketplace at about $4 million a day in sales suggests that those prices are about equal to or lower than the black market,” he said.

Read the full story here.

 

[S.J.B.]

MPs urged to push forward with legal cannabis despite calls to slow down
Brennan MacDonald
CBC
September 13th, 2017

A senior public health representative tells MPs studying the government's cannabis legalization legislation that the time for action on cannabis is now as the societal harms associated with the drug's use are already being felt every day in Canada.

"You have also heard calls that we are not ready for legalization. Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury of time as Canadians are already consuming cannabis at record levels," Ian Culbert, executive director of the Canadian Public Health Association, told the House of Commons health committee on Wednesday.

Culbert's message comes just one day after senior police representatives told the committee that they will not be ready to enforce new laws by next summer and are asking the government for more time. That echoes the message that several provinces have been delivering in recent months.

Earlier today, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said the government was sticking to its timetable to legalize cannabis by July 1, 2018.

"The timeframe is a solid one, the deadline is 10 months away, or 11 months away, so there's time there to move forward," Goodale said, noting a meeting is scheduled with premiers in November to check on progress.

Read the full story here.

 

[LucidSDreamr]

Don't see what the point of keeping something illegal when most of the population does it. Isn't the war over at that point?

 

[poledriver]

Thanks for the range of articles on this topic in one neat thread.

I really hope legalisation of weed stays on track for July 1st next year. JT has said it will be legal then many times, even on vids.

As for cops not being ready or that they'd find it impossible to be re trained for legalisation, what a crock of shit, cops all over the world have to re train and adapt to new laws and regulations all the time.

 

[S.J.B.]

Thanks for the range of articles on this topic in one neat thread.

No problem! The hearings are going on all week, and they're cramming in all sorts of folks, all with different angles. The government seems adamant that the July date will not be moved, despite a number of anxious parties not wanting this to go as fast as it is. I really hope they stick to it!

 

[S.J.B.]

Cannabis black market will thrive without an inclusive legal industry, MPs hear
Brennan MacDonald
CBC
September 14th, 2017

MPs studying the government's legal cannabis legislation were urged Thursday to consider "amnesty provisions" for individuals with prior cannabis offences to allow access to the legal market.

"Many of these individuals would embrace the opportunity to operate legally and they would comply with regulations," Trina Fraser told the House of Commons health committee. Fraser is a partner in the law firm Brazeau Seller LLP.

"If we fail to create an inclusive cannabis industry the black market will thrive and if it thrives cannabis will continue to be easily accessible to minors. The public health and safety objective of restricting access to unregulated cannabis products will be compromised and we will continue to place an unnecessary burden on the criminal justice system," said Fraser.

In its current form, Bill C-45 would allow the minister to refuse the granting of a licence or permit should an applicant have contravened the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in the past 10 years.

Fraser said that provision excludes anyone who has been convicted of producing, trafficking or possessing cannabis in the last decade. She said yet-to-be established regulations could further broaden grounds for exclusion.

Read the full story here.

 

[S.J.B.]

Delaying legal edible cannabis products won't keep them off street, MPs told
Brennan MacDonald
CBC
September 15th, 2017

A B.C. pot activist and dispensary owner told MPs studying the government's cannabis legalization bill Friday that excluding edible cannabis products from next year's planned rollout will mean the black market will continue to supply them.

"If the government is not going to allow edibles and extracts, we're going to continue to sell them through dispensaries, through the black market. They will be unregulated, but we do our best to make sure these products are safe and labelled," Dana Larsen told MPs on the House of Commons health committee.

In its current form, Bill C-45 does not include the legalization of edible cannabis products, and the government has said it would deal with those products at a later date. The plan is that on July 1, 2018, adults will be allowed to purchase fresh and dried cannabis, cannabis oils and seeds and plants for cultivation at home.

Edible cannabis products often contain THC, the psychoactive substance that makes consumers feel "high". Edibles can come in many forms, including baked goods, candy, honey and dried fruit.

Larsen told the committee that dispensaries do their best given the constraints of legality.

Read the full story here.

 

[S.J.B.]

​Marc Emery told the committee he would encourage everybody to boycott government stores, going so far as to physically try to stop people from going in and telling people they are "traitors" if they shop at these stores.

Marc Emery is such a wanker. He's just a drug dealer like any other drug dealer, but he thinks he has some kind of moral authority over cannabis. Legalization isn't working out exactly like he wanted it to (i.e. he might not get to make a lot of money off it), so he'd rather go right back to prohibition.