Huron Expositor, 2017-04-26, Page 44 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Seaforth letter to the editor
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Dear editor,
If your objectives are to pro-
tect public health and safety,
keep marijuana out of the hands
of minors and cut illegal profits
flowing to organized crime—
then the law as it stands today
has been an abject failure.
Law enforcement agencies in
Canada spend an estimated
S2-3 billion a year trying to fight
pot, yet Canadian teenagers are
among the heaviest users in the
western world. And criminals
walk away with $7-8 billion
every year in illicit proceeds. We
have to do better.
From the very beginning,
health and safety objectives
have been in the forefront of our
approach to cannabis. The new
legislation we introduced last
week reflects that—to do a bet-
ter job of protecting our kids
and fighting crime.
We have benefited from the
thorough, balanced and
thoughtful advice of an
Expert Task Force which
gathered the best available
data, medical and legal input,
the experiences of other
jurisdictions around the
world and the views of a vast
array of Canadians. Our pro-
posals are in line with their
recommendations.
The new law would create a
strong framework for legalizing,
strictly regulating and restricting
the use of cannabis:
• Only adults (18 years of age
and older) will have legal access
to the product through an
appropriate retail framework,
and sourced from a safe and
well -regulated industry, or
grown in small amounts at
home (i.e., a maximum of four
plants in any one residence).
• Provinces will be able to set
a higher minimum age or a
lower home limit, if they deem
that appropriate.
• It will be legal for adults to
possess, use and share (with
other adults) up to 30 grams in
public.
• Commercial producers of
cannabis will have to be
federally -licensed and security
cleared. Strict product safety
and quality standards will be
required. Mail order distribution
will be allowed, but generally
retail operations will be under
provincial jurisdiction to regu-
late. Nlunicipalities will be able
to enact local bylaws reflecting
community preferences (e.g.,
where cannabis is produced or
consumed).
• Serious criminal penalties
will apply to all those operat-
ing outside this framework,
with a strong focus on illicit
production and trafficking,
those who try to exploit chil-
dren and youth, and drug -
impaired driving. Importing
and exporting cannabis will
also remain illegal (unless
exceptionally authorized for
medical or scientific purposes
by Health Canada).
• For a young person (under
18), it will be an offence to pos-
sess, use or share marijuana.
Prosecutions will be governed
by the Youth Criminal Justice
Act. Criminal charges will not
be laid where the amount
involved is under 5 grams, but
provinces could create "ticketa-
ble" offences to deal with such
small amounts.
• Promotion, packaging,
labelling and display will be
tightly controlled to ensure fac-
tual accuracy and prevent
appeals to young people.
• The new law will be accom-
panied by a strong public edu-
cation campaign to explain the
risks and dangers associated
with the use of pot, especially by
young people, and to warn
against irresponsible behaviour
at any age.
In tandem with Canada's
new legal framework for can-
nabis, the government is also
renovating the law dealing
with impaired driving of all
kinds.
Beyond a vigorous effort to
raise public awareness about
the deadliness of such reck-
less conduct, we arc providing
law enforcement agencies
with clearer laws, better tech-
nologies (including new road-
side oral testing devices),
stronger and more expedi-
tious procedures (including
better access to blood tests),
more training and other
resources, and tougher penal-
ties to deal appropriately with
offenders—and to keep Cana-
da's roadways and communi-
ties safe.
Our entire legislative pack-
age is now before the House of
Commons. For more detailed
information about all our pro-
posed measures with respect
to cannabis, as well as
impaired driving, please go
to:https://www.canada.ca/
en/services/policing/justice/
legalization-regulation-mari-
juana.html
To date, I am pleased to see
encouraging reactions from the
Canadian Centre on Substance
Abuse, the Canadian Automo-
bile Association, professional
organizations representing
nurses and pharmacists, the
Federation of Canadian Munici-
palities, Mothers Against Drunk
Driving (MADD), many promi-
nent academic authorities and
others.
We believe our proposals rep-
resent the best approach to pro-
mote health and safety, protect
Scoreboard
Seaforth
AI Shuffleboard
April 19
4 wins
Charlotte Norton
3 wins
Diane Mero
Marion Pullman
Arnold Ramsey
Larry Larsen
Ken Preszcator
our kids and combat crime. But
they also represent very big
change.
Something this large and
transformational needs to be
managed with care. We are
anxious to continue working
with provincial, territorial,
municipal and private sector
partners to achieve a success-
ful and orderly transition to
the new regime. Our target is
July of next year.
In the meantime, the existing
law (as deficient as it has been)
needs to be respected. This is
not a free-for-all.
Ralph Goodale
Minister of Public Safety
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