Luke Skywalker
Super Moderator
{vb:raw ozzmodz_postquote}:
A marijuana plant(Photo: Win McNamee, Getty Images)
MONTREAL — Canada is moving to legalize pot in 2017, but don't expect it to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>become a new Amsterdam for Americans hoping to get a legal high just across the northern border.
Canada's Liberal Party government will introduce a law next spring<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to legalize recreational marijuana,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Health Minister Jane Philpott disclosed last week at the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>United Nations. She did not detail<span style="color: Red;">*</span>who would be allowed to grow or distribute cannabis products.
“Canada has a lot of options here,” said RAND Drug Policy Research Center<span style="color: Red;">*</span>co-director Beau Kilmer. “You have to pay attention to what's going to happen with the regulation and the taxes. That could really shape what happens in terms of people coming in from other countries. You have to decide whether you want to allow that.”
Since most major Canadian cities are<span style="color: Red;">*</span>within 100 miles of the U.S. border, Canada's legalization could spur<span style="color: Red;">*</span>border states <span style="color: Red;">*</span>to enact their own legislation to prevent the exodus of tourism dollars to the north.
Colorado and Washington, which legalized marijuana in 2013, have seen an uptick in tourism since then.
Those<span style="color: Red;">*</span>states may also act as models for the new legislation.
“It's nice that those experiments are there for us to see what's worked,” said Zach Walsh, a professor at the University of British Columbia in Kelowna,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>who studies cannabis. “We'll learn from those and I think, because we're looking at doing it federally and in a more organized way and maybe with a bit more prep time, I think we'll take what's worked from those models and make our own.”
While Canada is the USA's largest trading partner, marijuana is unlikely to become the latest product traded by<span style="color: Red;">*</span>two countries.
USA TODAY
Legal marijuana sales forecast to hit $23B in 4 years
“I don't see the government legalizing the export of cannabis,” said Eugene Oscapella, an Ottawa lawyer who specializes in Canadian social policy. “Right now, it's a criminal offense punishable by life imprisonment. They don't need to change that part of the law in order to set up a legal regulatory regime in Canada.”
Cannabis is still illegal under U.S.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>law.
Legalizing marijuana was a major campaign plank for Justin Trudeau, who became prime minister after his Liberal Party won last fall's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>election.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Although polls show<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a majority of Canadians support<span style="color: Red;">*</span>legalization, Trudeau's predecessor, Stephen Harper, opposed changing marijuana laws, calling the drug worse than cigarettes.
USA TODAY
Canada's new governing party promises to legalize, regulate marijuana sales
In 2003, Canada's outgoing prime minister, Jean Chretien, publicly questioned<span style="color: Red;">*</span>whether marijuana should be decriminalized. The U.S. response was swift:<span style="color: Red;">*</span>John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Control Policy, said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>such a move<span style="color: Red;">*</span>would hurt<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Canadian-U.S.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>trade relations.
Times have changed, as public<span style="color: Red;">*</span>opinion in both countries has become more accepting of legal marijuana.
In addition to Colorado and Washington, Alaska and Oregon have legalized pot, and some cities, such as Portland, Maine,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and Washington, D.C., have enacted laws that legalize<span style="color: Red;">*</span>recreational use of marijuana. Vermont and California have indicated they may<span style="color: Red;">*</span>legalize<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the drug in the next few years.
Canada faces no current U.S. pressure<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to stop legalization, but that could change depending on the outcome of the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>presidential election. Republican front-runner Donald Trump<span style="color: Red;">*</span>has vowed to build a wall on the Mexican border to deter the flow of drugs into the United States.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>While Mexico<span style="color: Red;">*</span>is the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>major supplier<span style="color: Red;">*</span>of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>marijuana to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the USA, that hasn't stopped politicians<span style="color: Red;">*</span>such as Wisconsin Gov.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Scott Walker from floating the idea of building a wall along<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the northern border.
Walker, during his now-defunct Republican presidential campaign, said on Meet the Press in August that a wall on the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Canadian border is<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"a legitimate issue to look at."
Trump has dismissed the possibility of a wall along<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the Canadian border.
<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed