Christine Green
New Member
A bright flash of reason emerged in the haze of Toronto's new war on drugs this week, when the Toronto Board of Health supported a Joe Cressy motion to essentially ask the federal government what ought to be done about marijuana over the next year or so.
That's how long Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals have given themselves to come up with legislation governing soon-to-be-legalized marijuana use. New MP and former Toronto police chief Bill Blair is taking the lead on crafting the legislation, and taking appropriate time doing it, so when it finally shows up in the spring of 2017, expect premium law.
Until then?
Well legally it's pretty straightforward. Trafficking marijuana remains illegal. It is a criminal offence to do so. It is legal to dispense marijuana for medical purposes, but the law as written is restrictive enough that the Supreme Court has ordered the federal government to make up a new one.
Looked at through that lens, the raids police and bylaw officials conducted last week on storefront medical marijuana dispensaries are entirely appropriate, and the 90 individuals, many of them hourly employees, will deserve what they get.
It doesn't matter if the law will be changed to something excellent for pot smokers a year or so from now: right now the law is the law and that is that.
Trouble is that the legal lens is not the only lens through which we view this.
Marijuana was, is, and will be a widely used drug. It has harmful effects, but those effects exist within a range that most reasonable people find tolerable, the same as they tolerate alcohol and tobacco.
The major harm marijuana does has to do with its illegality: it funds criminal organizations and puts otherwise innocent people in jail. The reason we are on the road to legalizing marijuana stems in part from those views.
So, what's wrong really with the proliferation of storefront operations in flagrant violation of the soon-to-be laws?
The answer is that there is plenty wrong, when you look at it through a third lens: that of public health.
According to the report before the board of health this week, there are significant health risks associated with the heavy consumption of the drug, particularly for those who begin their use of it in adolescence. It impacts brain development, and it may trigger psychotic disorders in people genetically prone to them.
It's not nearly the gateway drug some argue it is, but limited studies indicate it can, in some, increase the risk of going on to more dangerous drugs. And there is a small risk of dependence, and respiratory effects. There is a small amount of evidence that cannabis can cause developmental issues in pregnancy, and dangerous impairment while driving an automobile.
There is something of a haze over all this, because marijuana's illegality has limited the amount of research on its impacts.
That haze is unavoidable, and will only be cleared in time. But in setting the long timetable for legislative clarity, the federal government does owe Toronto and the rest of the country some guidance on how to deal with this substance that until then is neither here nor there.
News Moderator: Christine Green 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: THE CITY: Toronto left in a haze waiting for feds new marijuana laws
Author: David Nickle: The City
Contact: ashackleton@insidetoronto.com
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: Your Toronto online newspaper | Today's stories from newspapers in Toronto
That's how long Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals have given themselves to come up with legislation governing soon-to-be-legalized marijuana use. New MP and former Toronto police chief Bill Blair is taking the lead on crafting the legislation, and taking appropriate time doing it, so when it finally shows up in the spring of 2017, expect premium law.
Until then?
Well legally it's pretty straightforward. Trafficking marijuana remains illegal. It is a criminal offence to do so. It is legal to dispense marijuana for medical purposes, but the law as written is restrictive enough that the Supreme Court has ordered the federal government to make up a new one.
Looked at through that lens, the raids police and bylaw officials conducted last week on storefront medical marijuana dispensaries are entirely appropriate, and the 90 individuals, many of them hourly employees, will deserve what they get.
It doesn't matter if the law will be changed to something excellent for pot smokers a year or so from now: right now the law is the law and that is that.
Trouble is that the legal lens is not the only lens through which we view this.
Marijuana was, is, and will be a widely used drug. It has harmful effects, but those effects exist within a range that most reasonable people find tolerable, the same as they tolerate alcohol and tobacco.
The major harm marijuana does has to do with its illegality: it funds criminal organizations and puts otherwise innocent people in jail. The reason we are on the road to legalizing marijuana stems in part from those views.
So, what's wrong really with the proliferation of storefront operations in flagrant violation of the soon-to-be laws?
The answer is that there is plenty wrong, when you look at it through a third lens: that of public health.
According to the report before the board of health this week, there are significant health risks associated with the heavy consumption of the drug, particularly for those who begin their use of it in adolescence. It impacts brain development, and it may trigger psychotic disorders in people genetically prone to them.
It's not nearly the gateway drug some argue it is, but limited studies indicate it can, in some, increase the risk of going on to more dangerous drugs. And there is a small risk of dependence, and respiratory effects. There is a small amount of evidence that cannabis can cause developmental issues in pregnancy, and dangerous impairment while driving an automobile.
There is something of a haze over all this, because marijuana's illegality has limited the amount of research on its impacts.
That haze is unavoidable, and will only be cleared in time. But in setting the long timetable for legislative clarity, the federal government does owe Toronto and the rest of the country some guidance on how to deal with this substance that until then is neither here nor there.
News Moderator: Christine Green 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: THE CITY: Toronto left in a haze waiting for feds new marijuana laws
Author: David Nickle: The City
Contact: ashackleton@insidetoronto.com
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: Your Toronto online newspaper | Today's stories from newspapers in Toronto
