The Ottawa Sun explored the potentially confusing legal landscape in Canada, where cannabis legalization appears to be moving forward yet crackdowns appear to be escalating in British Columbia.
So just who will be able to sell the recreational marijuana the Liberals are promising? What will the safeguards be? Will it be available at corner stores and gas stations? By courier? In dispensaries? As the two mentioned case studies show, until a new policy exists, confusion reigns. But that doesn’t mean that industry players don’t have their notions of how things should unfold.
The article draws upon the input from many experts, including Mark Zekulin, President of Tweed.
“It’s about doing it in a way that’s responsible,” says Zekulin. “There’s an established system for production and distribution, and it’s a very safe approach to simply expand that into the non-medical (recreational) market.
“When you do that, you give people a chance to understand the system, and for those who have some doubt, to see that it’s not harmful on society, that the products are controlled, that there aren’t these adverse events or hospitalizations, all these things that are important to the public to keep them on board with this idea.”
It’s not clear what the final form of the system will be or how long it will take place to implement. The models the article explores include:
- Mail-order (like the current MMPR)
- Liquor Control Board of Ontario model
- British Columbia model
- Health clinic model
- Cannabis Control Board model
- Colorado model
Read Aedan Helmer’s “Legalized pot not likely to make Canada a haven for addicts and dealers”: http://www.ottawasun.com/2015/12/12/legalized-pot-not-likely-to-make-canada-a-haven-for-druggies-and-dealers
