[URBAN NOTE] "Feds' marijuana task force rules out storefront weed"

[rfmcdonald]

NOW Toronto's Barbara Shaw writes about Canada's emergent marijuana laws, ones not apparently going to be friendly to the storefront dispensaries recently subjected to raids here.

With the feds scheduling a pot announcement on the day before the Canada Day long weekend, there were high hopes among cannabis activists. Last time the government made a major announcement on marijuana, it chose 420 as the date.

So when the feds sent out a tersely-worded media advisory June 29 about "an announcement regarding marijuana," it looked like the Trudeau government had finally listened to the advice of legal experts, and was set to decriminalize marijuana as an interim measure while it figures out what legalization looks like. The Criminal Lawyers' Association, among others, has been calling on the government to stay all marijuana-related charges now before the courts. Pressure has been building on the government to act.

Alas, the announcement was a re-announcement of sorts – the official launch of the nine-member federal task force headed by former Chretien-era justice minister Anne McLellan set up to hear public input on federal plans to legalize weed.

McLellan quickly put the decriminalization question to rest, making it clear in a media conference at that National Press Theatre in Ottawa that the government's goal is to "legalize, restrict and regulate access to marijuana." Protecting kids was a recurring theme at the conference attended by representatives for the ministers of health, public safety and justice. Quality, purity and potency will be a big focus of regulation, McLellan said.