OTTAWA — Adults 18 and older will be able to legally buy and cultivate small amounts of marijuana for personal use, while selling the drug to a minor will become a serious new criminal offence under the federal Liberal government’s proposed new legal-pot regime.

A suite of legislation introduced Thursday would, once passed, establish a “strict legal framework” for the production, sale, distribution and possession of pot, and make it against the law to sell cannabis to youth or use a young person to commit a cannabis-related crime.

New penalties would range from a simple police citation to 14 years behind bars.

“If your objective is to protect public health and safety and keep cannabis out of the hands of minors, and stop the flow of profits to organized crime, then the law as it stands today has been an abject failure,” Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale told a news conference.

“Police forces spend between $2 billion and $3 billion every year trying to deal with cannabis, and yet Canadian teenagers are among the heaviest users in the western world … we simply have to do better.”

The new law would allow adults 18 and over to possess up to 30 grams of dried cannabis or its equivalent in public, share up to 30 grams of dried marijuana with other adults and buy cannabis or cannabis oil from a provincially regulated retailer.

They would also be permitted to grow up to four plants per residence for personal use, as well as make legal cannabis-containing products at home.

The government says it intends to bring other products, including pot-infused edibles, into the legalized sphere once federal regulations for production and sale are developed and brought into force.

“The current system of prohibition is failing our kids,” said Liberal MP Bill Blair, a former Toronto police chief and the government’s point man on the legalized-marijuana file.

The plan is to have a legalized-pot system in place by the end of June 2018, he added.

“We have a responsibility to act as expeditiously as we can … we can’t drag our feet; we aspire to get this done as quickly as possible.”

Under the proposed Cannabis Act, it would remain illegal to import cannabis and cannabis products, and to export them without a valid permit. Permits may be issued for certain purposes, such as medical cannabis and industrial hemp.

It would also be against the law to sell cannabis in a package or with a label that could be construed as appealing to young people, to include testimonials or endorsements, or to depict a person, character or animal.

The government also aims to establish “significant penalties” for those who engage young Canadians in “cannabis-related offences” and a “zero-tolerance approach” to drug-impaired driving, along with a “robust” public awareness campaign.

The RCMP and the Canadian Border Services Agency plan to work together, along with local police, to uphold laws governing illegal cross-border movement of cannabis.

Goodale made a point of noting the existing laws remain in effect until the new legislation is formally proclaimed the law of the land.

“As the bill moves through the legislative process, existing laws prohibiting possession and use of cannabis remain in place, and they need to be respected,” he said.

“This must be an orderly transition; it is not a free for all.”

Provinces, territories and municipalities would be able to tailor rules for their own jurisdictions, enforcing them through mechanisms such as ticketing.

They will also be permitted to set their own licensing, distribution and retail sales rules, establish provincial zoning rules for cannabis businesses and change provincial traffic safety laws as they deem necessary.

Philpott says criminalizing cannabis has not deterred use among young people, noting products like alcohol and tobacco are legally available with restrictions.

Once passed, the Liberal bills introduced today would make Canada the first member of the G7 to legalize marijuana for recreational use across the country.

— With files from Jim Bronskill

Ottawa tables new legislation to legalize recreational marijuana

While Thursday’s pot legalization bill answered a great many questions on what the Liberals want a legal recreational marijuana market to look like, some key details still need to be worked out.

Between yesterday’s introduction of the bill to legalize cannabis, and the 15 months it will take to pass it into law, some areas of the bill are likely to be modified at committee, while other areas will need to be fleshed out more fully — both in Ottawa and in the provinces and territories.

Some of those issues include defining what the future will be for edible cannabis products, what the price of cannabis will be, how marijuana will be taxed and how advertising and packaging restrictions will look at the time of royal assent. We’ll also wait to see what a national awareness campaign will look like and how well it will be funded.

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The bill does not deal with edible products such as chocolate bars and chewable gummy sweets laced with cannabis, but does say that those products will be “made available at a later date.”

That will only happen, according to the government, when federal regulations for the production and sale of edible products can be “developed and brought into force.”

It is unclear what the timetable will be, but not everyone who consumes cannabis does so by smoking it, so the federal government is likely to come under pressure to move on that file in the near future.

Sales and distribution

The federal government has set out some broad strokes for how marijuana will be sold. Licensed vendors can’t sell to people under the age of 18 at a minimum, but provinces can set a higher age.

The federal government will license producers, but how pot is distributed, and how much it will cost, will fall to the provinces and territories.

Interestingly, if a province refuses to implement a system to license the distribution and sale of cannabis, the federal government reserves the right to step in and do it.

Thursday’s bill sets out that the provinces will have to decide where pot can be sold and consumed, who can sell and distribute it, for how much, and what the legal age for consumption will be. That could mean very different things in different parts of the country.

At Issue | Liberals table pot legislation

Public awareness campaign

The federal government has earmarked $9.6 million over five years for a “comprehensive public education and awareness campaign,” but what will that look like and is that enough money?

The Canadian Automobile Association says that level of funding “is clearly inadequate, given the misconceptions about marijuana’s effect on driving.”

The CAA said that a quarter of Canadians aged 18 to 34 believe a driver is either better at operating a vehicle, or the same, when they are high on marijuana compared with being completely sober.

“We know from our experience with alcohol that public education significantly reduces the amount of impaired driving. It is urgent we get police properly trained, and messaging on myths and penalties to people,” the CAA said in a statement.

So what that publicly funded awareness campaign will look like, or how it could be expanded, could change in the coming months.

Taxation and revenue sharing

So far there has been little indication how cannabis will be taxed and how that tax revenue will be shared.

The federal government appears to be working on proposals for that, saying Thursday it will share more details on what the tax system will look like “in the months ahead.”

Will the GST be applied to pot? Will provincial sales tax also be applied? Will there be some new sort of cannabis tax introduced that shares revenue with the provinces, or will the federal government impose its own tax and tell the provinces to do the same?

This is an issue that will likely need to be worked out before full legalization if the provinces are going to have the funding they need to hold up regulation and enforcement on the ground.

Marketing and promotion

The federal government has laid out some detailed rules on the marketing and promotion of cannabis.

There are restrictions on branding. There can also be no use of testimonials or endorsements, people or characters, real or fictional, to promote the drug.

No facility that is used for sports or cultural events can be branded by a company that produces, sells, or distributes cannabis or any products or services related to the drug.

That has some producers concerned they will not be able to tell consumers why buying their legal pot is better than turning to the black market.

“Professional companies must be allowed to explain to consumers why our products are superior to those offered by their illegal competitors,” said Brendan Kennedy, president of Tilray, a Nanaimo, B.C.-based medical marijuana company that services the Canadian market.

The U.S. question

There is also the question of how the U.S. will react to sharing a virtually unprotected border with a country that has legalized the recreational consumption of marijuana.

A U.S. Embassy spokesperson told CBC that it does not expect Canada and the U.S.’s long-standing co-operation on drug trafficking to change as a result of legalization.

“Legalization of marijuana in Canada will not have any impact on marijuana’s legality in the United States,” the spokesperson said. “Thus, it is important that Canadians are aware of possible actions they may face upon attempted entrance into the United States if they possess or have residue of marijuana.”

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News Release

From Health Canada

As an employer and father to three young children, I am alarmed by the federal government’s plan to legalize marijuana. There is already a deadly opioid crisis underway, but the government remains fixated on making marijuana freely available. The legalization of marijuana is a far more drastic, normalizing step than decriminalization would ever be. Legalization will encourage marijuana use, thereby putting all Canadians at risk.

Marijuana is already being openly marketed in anticipation of legalization. If this statement sounds farfetched, then look out for the billboards that already loom over Montreal streets advertising a website that indicates where marijuana can be bought.

Why does the government wish to legalize the use of a substance that is sure to cause untold suffering for countless families in the form of impaired driving accidents, workplace accidents and adverse health consequences?

Unfortunately, governments cannot resist the siren song of tax revenue, so health and success take a backseat and instead the populace (especially the more addiction-prone segment) is provided with every opportunity for setback through the enthusiastic adoption of lotteries, casinos and, soon, the legal sale of marijuana, a product that can interfere with motivation.

To state that legalizing marijuana will protect our children requires a ridiculous stretch of the imagination. The criminal element will not walk away from this massive and soon to be expanded business. If anything, we can expect pushers to increase their pressure on youth and enlarge their product offering once the adult share of the market switches to legal dispensaries. There is also the likelihood that some adults will use the legal dispensaries as a means of selling or providing the drug to those underage. Anti-drug and anti-tobacco efforts are about to be set back by light years. Ironically, the media pictures of sterile, hydroponic greenhouses with white-suited technicians nurturing the pot plants leave the impression that this emerging industry is preparing a healthful, near-medical concoction.

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The opioid crisis shows us that the illegal production and distribution of a drug is a roughshod process, with little regard for quality control or even the survival of the customer. This method does have an upside: it is cheap, giving illegal marijuana producers a strong competitive advantage.  Illegal producers pay no sales or health taxes; have no storefront overheads in the form of rent, heat, property tax; and do not incur costs to comply with regulations about testing, handling and securing of the inventory. These savings will allow the illegal producers to undercut the legal product, as we see with illegal tobacco production. The youth market is particularly price sensitive and will be excellent customers for the illegal growers and pushers.

An aspect that is worrying the police departments is that there is currently no reliable test for cannabis impairment. A saliva test is available, but more work is needed.

Similarly, employers are nervous that their work environment will be rendered less safe. Many workers use forklifts, cranes, heavy equipment and dangerous power tools during their shifts. Human resource departments regularly screen certain vocations, such as pilots and truck drivers.  Should the citizenry be concerned that workers in many fields could be under the influence of a legal, mind-altering drug?

The pot shops have been opening across the country, only to be promptly raided. In a few months, we may have the pleasure of welcoming these good corporate neighbours into all of our cities and communities on a permanent basis. It will not take long before the problems come knocking on all of our doors. It is but an exponential expansion of the drug trade, to be followed by heartbreak and recriminations once the addictions, accidents, and worsening drop-out numbers become apparent.

Canadians who are worried by this plan should speak out now against this brewing national disaster before it is too late.

Benjamin Anson is vice president of Superchute, a Montreal-based manufacturer of construction safety products.

A medical marijuana user and a Conservative MP are both concerned the federal Liberal government hasn’t put enough thought into its new legislation to legalize marijuana.

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Peter Thurley of Kitchener relies on medical marijuana to manage his pain. He is also a member of the Cannabis Patient Advisory Board at Canadians for Fair Access to Medical Marijuana.

He’s concerned little thought has been given to people who use it medicinally.

“I think for me the biggest concern [with the legislation] is the extent to which it creates the impression that cannabis is all and only a public health hazard,” Thurley told CBC K-W’s The Morning Edition host Craig Norris Tuesday.

Making cannabis legal was a major Liberal election promise during the 2015 campaign.

Thurley said the Cannabis Act has many regulations for how pot can be sold and may even restrict access, instead of making it more readily available.

“They just want to get an election promise fulfilled,” Thurley said.

Medical marijuana user Peter Thurley is concerned new rules for pot distribution could actually limit access to cannabis. (Associated Press)

Feds ‘ignoring scientific evidence’

Kitchener-Conestoga MP Harold Albrecht said he hasn’t heard from any parents or grandparents who want marijuana legalized.

“I don’t think it’s any secret that I’m not excited about it. I’m opposed to it,” he said. “The unfortunate part of the message that’s being given here is that the use of marijuana is, in my opinion, it’s being normalized.”

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He said the Canadian Medical Association is against legalizing pot and has suggested the minimum age to purchase it should be 21. The federal government has set the age at 18; however, provinces are able to change the minimum age.

“Here we have a government that’s ignoring scientific evidence,” Albrecht said.

Federal Minister of Health Jane Philpott addressed concerns about young people using pot during an interview on CBC’s Power and Politics April 13. She said current laws have not prevented youth from using marijuana.

“The prohibition approach has not deterred young adults from using this product. The current approach is not working,” she said.

Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould added they have suggested allowing youth between the ages of 12-18 to carry up to five grams, but there’s nothing that gives them legal access to it.

“Young people can’t buy it, they can’t grow it,” she said. “We wanted to find some balance. We did not want to criminalize young people that will have an impact on their future,”

Albrecht said he is also against legalizing pot because people use the drug for a very specific reason.

“You can have a glass a wine, not for the purpose of becoming intoxicated. But when you’re using pot, you’re trying to get high,” he said, and instead supports a Conservative plan that would make carrying small amounts of pot a ticketable offence.

The difference between pot and alcohol, Kitchener-Conestoga MP Harold Albrecht says, is that you can have a glass of wine without intending to get drunk. “When you’re using pot, you’re trying to get high,” he says. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Start lobbying provinces

Thurley noted much of how pot distribution will be rolled out will be up to the provinces, so he encourages patients who rely on medical marijuana to talk to their MPPs about what they want to see.

“The federal government has given complete latitude to the provinces in terms of determining age, in terms of determining potency, in terms of determining all of that kind of stuff that is ultimately important for access and affordability,” he said.

Both Wilson-Raybould and Philpott said the federal government will work with the provinces and territories as this legislation moves forward.

“We recognize there’s more to do,” Philpott said.

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For Albrecht, he said his role now will be pointing out problems in the bill, first during second reading and then at the committee level.

That includes concerns he’s heard from police officers that they lack the ability to accurately measure how intoxicated a person is after using marijuana.

He said he hopes the Conservatives will be able to get some things changed before the Liberal majority in the House of Commons passes the new laws.