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June 2 2016 update on Canadian Recreational Marijuana Legalization and Medical MJ Law

Thomas Davie

Thomas Davie

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This is going to be a biggish post. Sorry; I'll try to format it properly

Anne McClellan, Liberal, a former health minister/former justice minister/former public safety minister has been tapped to head up a task force overseeing legalization, regulation and taxation of MJ for adult recreational purposes in Canada. To some extent, this sidelines Bill Blair (also liberal) who is coordinating the effort at the federal level between the Health, Justice and Public Safety ministries. Bill Blair used to be chief of police in Toronto.

1. This task force has to be established and named by June 23rd when our parliament breaks for the summer. This task force will liason between the provinces/territories and the federal government. Expect it to be loaded with provincial health, justice and public safety ministers. A lot of interprovincial wrangling will occur.

2. 9 weeks later, on August 25th, new laws will be handed down regarding medical Marijuana access in Canada. This is in response to a court ruling declaring that patient rights were negatively affected by the prohibition on personal cultivation. Trudeau and the federal justice minister have to respond to the court's ruling and come up with a system of medical cannabis regulation in this country that doesn't impact and negatively take away the charter rights of medical cannabis patients and their providers." In response to the law being struck down which prevents mmj patients from growing their own.

-probably all medical patients will be allowed to grow.
-LP's (licensed providers) may be allowed to operate physical stores
-patients may be able to split their purchasing amongst multiple LP's (it really sucks when your LP is out of something that works for you, and you're prevented from accessing MJ at another LP)

3. On September 19th (3 1/2 weeks from the reworked medical laws, Parliament resumes)

4. October 31-November 4, the federal/provincial task force has to present a report to the Health/Justice/Public safety triumvirate. They've had ~17 weeks since formation and ~9 1/2 weeks since the reworked medical laws. At this point, Parliament has a basic set of recommendations for a country wide legal framework.There’s going to be a tremendous amount of back and forth between the province/feds and lots of headaches to share; taxation, age restrictions, limitations on possession, whether or not personal cultivation is going to be allowed, interprovincial transfer of MJ, restrictions on sales

So, things are finally starting to happen quicklier :) A good barometer of forthcoming national legalization will be the new medical laws released in August. Those laws, and the adult recreational system which will follow will be designed to resist (as much as possible) the inevitable legal challenges.

Tom
 
With respect to the people who think it's going to be part of Trudeau's plan to make weed 20$/g that's bullshit :) He's never said *anything* of the like.

Just to clarify. and any Canadian will know these dreaded terms, weed will be subject to

PST (provincial sales tax), except for any province that doesn't have one
GST (Goods and Services tax)

And the sin taxes, which alcohol and tobacco are subject to;

Federal Excise Tax
Provincial Levy

Trudeau has stated that he expects MJ to be revenue neutral, i.e., not a source of money. The goals are to reduce underage access and to make communities safer (reduce the black market). The feds are well aware that the black market won't be dented if taxes are too high. Remember, they set the excise tax, can create an exemption for application of the GST and can cap provincial levies.

Ritch; he *never* sought $20/g. You can expect the provinces to tax the maximum that they will be allowed to, so that they can grab as much money as they can. An interesting situation exists for Alberta (no PST) and Saskatchewan (they have PST)....I expect a lot of cross border shopping. Will recreational users be allowed to cross provincial borders with MJ purchased ni another province?.

Medical weed from LP's ranges from $5-$13 before taxes. Do the math after that. I expect that the reworked medical laws on August 25th *may* do away with taxes on medical product.

If the price of weed is too high, many will take advantage of personal cultivation, which I believe will be allowed. If personal cultivation isn't allowed then municipalities peobably won't be allowed to ban weed sales. After all, if they can ban weed sales and personal cultivation isn't allowed, then that's a void that the black market will gladly fill.

Tom
 
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I find this alll very exciting. after all, this will be the first nation of the "first world" or whatever you want to call it to completly legalise cannabis.

the mainstream media in europe hasn't talked about this at all yet... I wonder if it will be totally neglected here even when it finally becomes law. the legalisation in Uruguay or in the american states which did it also wasn't really brought by the news.
 
I doubt anything will change for me personally (unless growing on my balcony is approved) but I am really hopeful that legalization here will drive a change in how the UN and the rest of the developed world sees cannabis and provides good data that supports legalization worldwide
 
the licensed producers prices are higher then the black market, its a shame. when prescription meds make it to the black market they rise in price incredibly,
hopefully the new regulations provide some pricing regulation,
And i don't think the 20$ a gram, and 500$ and ounce thing is true, because he said he wanted to make it so the prices undercut the gangs/ black market cannabis,
 
Mr_Fluffykins said:
the licensed producers prices are higher then the black market, its a shame. when prescription meds make it to the black market they rise in price incredibly,
hopefully the new regulations provide some pricing regulation,
And i don't think the 20$ a gram, and 500$ and ounce thing is true, because he said he wanted to make it so the prices undercut the gangs/ black market cannabis,
Click to expand...

There will be pricing regulations to the extent that the federal government will likely cap the provincial levies that can be applied. So, for example, Manitoba would not be able to slap a $20/g tax on the product. And no, that and the $500/oz price are just plain fabrications.

But we should expect the provinces to wring all they can in terms of tax dollars. If the federal government limits possession to one ounce, unless there is a purchase protection built in to the new legislation, there would be nothing that would prevent an individual province form limiting sales to 1 gram at a time, thus maximizing revenue. I don't think it's likely, but unless prohibited, is certainly possible.

That having been said, I do expect a federal possession limit of one ounce, although that's just a guess; but unless purchasing limits can match possession limits, expect court challenges.

I expect some idea of where things might be headed to be indicated on June 23rd when the composition of the McClellan led task force is announced. A lot of clarity will be provided on August 25th when we get the new medical laws.

Tom
 
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I'll make a new post on June 23rd and ask that this one be locked if possible. In the June 23rd post I'll include any new information I've learnt and engage in some more verbal diarrhea :)

One tidbit for now; the government point man on legalization (Bill Blair, ex chief of police Toronto, elected as a Liberal, liason between justice, health and public safety ministries) has been having *quiet* discussions with dispensary owners/groups of dispensary representatives regarding what they think their role can be in legalization.

This is important because our Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional forcing medical patients to buy their medicine from a single LP using mail only distribution. Our new medical laws get handed down on August 25th. I'm betting LP's being allowed to operate physical dispensaries *or* to supply MJ to physical dispensaries. The supply chain of Health Canada approved MJ remains intact, stores can operate in every province and territory and the LP's can move more product.

If I were a betting man (and I am), I would say that 'good behavior' dispensaries may be allowed to transition to dual purpose medical/recreational stores in April/2017.

Tom
 
Thomas Davie said:
I'll make a new post on June 23rd and ask that this one be locked if possible. In the June 23rd post I'll include any new information I've learnt and engage in some more verbal diarrhea :)

One tidbit for now; the government point man on legalization (Bill Blair, ex chief of police Toronto, elected as a Liberal, liason between justice, health and public safety ministries) has been having *quiet* discussions with dispensary owners/groups of dispensary representatives regarding what they think their role can be in legalization.

This is important because our Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional forcing medical patients to buy their medicine from a single LP using mail only distribution. Our new medical laws get handed down on August 25th. I'm betting LP's being allowed to operate physical dispensaries *or* to supply MJ to physical dispensaries. The supply chain of Health Canada approved MJ remains intact, stores can operate in every province and territory and the LP's can move more product.

If I were a betting man (and I am), I would say that 'good behavior' dispensaries may be allowed to transition to dual purpose medical/recreational stores in April/2017.

Tom
Click to expand...

Yup. I'm kind of an anomaly in that I am signed up with 4 LP's, and have a copy of my Rx. (apparently you are not supposed to have the physical Rx?)
 
I have no idea why the Libs wouldn't recommend decriminalizing weed while waiting for full legislation like The NDP suggested. People are getting criminals records because of Tradue and the Liberal party
 
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Ravr said:
I have no idea why the Libs wouldn't recommend decriminalizing weed while waiting for full legislation like The NDP suggested. People are getting criminals records because of Tradue and the Liberal party
Click to expand...

I honestly don't know. Of course, whether decriminalized or not, the demand still exists, and until we have access to a legal supply, the black market will fill the void. So yes, we should decriminalize now. It doesn't give the black market any more of a green light than they already have.

Don't know if you've been following the busts in Toronto; 4 more dispensaries got shut down yesterday (Cannabis Culture among them). Marc Emery, God Bless him - opened it up again today and is manning the counter; selling to patients and recreational users alike. Thus really is going to continue until August 24th when we get new medical rules.

Tom


[edit; the composition of the Anne McClellan led task force was supposed to be announced yesterday and it wasn't. I'll update when it is announced]
 
Ya I have been following the Toronto busts. I know people who have legit medical issues, but don't want to go to these dispensaries in Toronto cause they might also be charged, thus, losing good paying jobs. What a mess Tradu and the Liberals created.
 
Ravr said:
Ya I have been following the Toronto busts. I know people who have legit medical issues, but don't want to go to these dispensaries in Toronto cause they might also be charged, thus, losing good paying jobs. What a mess Tradu and the Liberals created.
Click to expand...
As far as I know, they don't care about the clients at all in the busts. They target the store/owner/staff/supply only. They don't want the work of busting a bunch of people for a small amount when they can literally raid a store selling.

I don't care about my job and already have a record, so I have less to fear, but I have zero qualms about paying for weed with a credit card and becoming a member and have done so in Vancouver and Toronto.
 
A dispensary opened a few blocks away from where I live in Quebec City earlier this week. They ask for any pain medication, anti-inflammatory, anti-depressor or sleeping pill prescription along with an ID such as driver license. They make a photocopy of it to cover themselves in case of a bust, as a proof they don’t sell recreational weed or to minors.

Quebec Shitty being a very narrow minded bigot small city, I believe they will be raided very soon. I wouldn’t feel comfortable buying weed there, obviously they are under very close scrutiny by the cops and authorities.
 
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