cannabis

Wednesday October 17, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday October 17, 2018

Canada becomes second country to legalise recreational marijuana

The nationwide market for cannabis opened Wednesday at midnight amid lingering questions about the impact on health, the law and public safety.

Preparations included mailings to 15m households detailing the new cannabis laws and public awareness campaigns.

But there remain concerns, including about the readiness for police forces to tackle drug impaired driving.

Canadian provinces and municipalities have been preparing for months for the end of cannabis prohibition.

Provinces and territories are responsible for setting out many of the details for where cannabis can be bought and consumed within their jurisdictions. 

This has created a patchwork of legislation across the country as jurisdictions choose more or less restrictive frameworks for selling and using cannabis.

Shops in the province of Newfoundland, the most easterly time zone in Canada, opened as midnight struck for the first legal sales of cannabis in the country.

There remain unanswered questions on some key issues around how legal cannabis will work in Canada.

A number of analysts are predicting a shortage of recreational marijuana in the first year of legalisation as production and licensing continues to ramp up to meet demand.

And the marketplace itself is still in its infancy.

Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, will only begin opening retail stores next spring, though residents will be able to order cannabis online.

British Columbia, one of the provinces with the highest rates of cannabis use, will only have one legal store open on Wednesday.

Until retail locations are more widely available, some unlicensed cannabis retailers, which have flourished in the years since the law was first proposed, may stay open.

It is unclear if police will crack down on them immediately, or if they will turn a blind eye. (Source: BBC News) 

Tuesday October 16, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday October 16, 2018

Worried You Reek Like Weed? Prelam Has An ‘Odour Eliminator’ For You

The makers of Just’a Drop odour eliminators are stepping into the recreational cannabis market when it becomes legal October 17. Prelam Enterprises will launch the LUKY8 spray that day, which it claims will eliminate, and not just mask, the odour that comes with marijuana smoke.

June 22, 2018

“My goal was to give privacy to those people who will want to experiment because it’s legal all of a sudden,” said Prelam co-founder Luc Jalbert. “I figured there’s going to be millions of people trying it. There’ll be a lot of people buying it in the store because it’s legal, but they don’t want to advertise it, they don’t want their kids to know they had a puff.”

Jalbert said people who don’t traditionally use the substance may want to try it, including Baby Boomers. But as most people know, marijuana has a distinct smell that many may find too strong and obvious.

“Sometimes I’ll be in line at a bank or something and I can smell the cannabis on the guy behind me, it’s like, ‘wow, that’s a very distinct smell’,” Jalbert said. “My objective was to remove that taboo feeling that you could have a joint but you don’t have to advertise it.”

Jalbert said the LUKY8 is unlike other odour elimination sprays in the market because it “encapsulates the molecule [that creates the odour] and actually knocks it out.”

He used a formula aimed at the agricultural sector, he said. The product was researched, designed and manufactured in Moncton.

Users of the product just need to spray the air around them, their clothes or their furniture after consuming marijuana. Once sprayed, the LUKY8, which is safe for pets, will leave a light berry scent. (Source: Huddle Today) 

Thursday October 11, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday October 11, 2018

Privacy advocates have plenty of questions about how data from buying marijuana online will be handled

When Canadians go to buy their first grams of legal cannabis next week, many of them will do so through the internet, creating huge quantities of data as a side effect of their purchases.

But with only one week until legalization, privacy advocates say they still have plenty of questions about how that data will be handled.

And the answers could have serious ramifications: The United States still considers cannabis to be an illegal substance and concerns have been raised that Canadians could be blocked from travelling to the U.S. if customs officials find out that they have purchased the drug, or been involved in legalized production.

“It’s going to be an issue, and it’s going to present problems and challenges in terms of how that data is used, how it’s protected,” said Matt Murphy, a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who is now vice-president of compliance for Khiron Life Sciences, a Toronto-based cannabis company.

“I’m not aware of much guidance relative to how that data is protected, how it’s used, how it’s stored. These are all interesting questions that I think we’re going to have to deal with — probably sooner rather than later.”

Murphy downplayed the concerns about the U.S. going to great lengths to figure out who bought a gram of cannabis — he said they’re more worried about terrorists and illegal migrants — but he said that potential privacy breaches could affect people’s employment, or simply cause public embarrassment. 

But then there’s the credit card companies. (Continued: Financial Post) 

 

Wednesday October 10, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday October 10, 2018

Minister confident police in Canada ready for cannabis legalization next week

Police forces across Canada should be ready for legalization of recreational marijuana next week because the federal government has provided funds, training and approval of drug-screening technology ahead of the big deadline, says a federal cabinet minister.

January 13, 2016

Bill Blair, minister of border security and organized crime reduction, says the government provided up to $161 million one year ago for police training in how to detect the presence of drugs in drivers. In August, it also approved the use of roadside drug screening equipment to identify those driving while high.

“For the first time ever, the police have been given the training, the tools and the technology to actually detect and deter,” he told CBC Radio’s Metro Morning Tuesday.

In the last 18 months, there has been a 60 per cent increase in the number of police officers trained as drug recognition experts in Canada, he said. There are now more than 880 police officers in Canada trained to recognize drug-impaired drivers.

August 13, 2018

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, however, has said there should be 2,000 trained to fulfil the government’s push to crack down on drug-impaired drivers.

Blair said police forces have access to the new Dräger DrugTest 5000, which tests saliva for cocaine and THC, the main psychoactive agent in cannabis. The device, which includes an “analyzer” and cassettes, received approval from the federal Department of Justice.

“People are already and have been for years driving under the influence of drugs and police have never had the ability to detect it,” he said. (Source: CBC News) 

 

Saturday September 15, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday September 15, 2018

Canadians who smoke marijuana legally, or work or invest in the industry, will be barred from the U.S.: Customs and Border Protection official

Canadians will be barred from entering the United States for smoking marijuana legally, for working in Canada’s legal marijuana industry and for investing in legal Canadian marijuana companies, a senior U.S. Customs and Border Protection official says.

Todd Owen, who spoke to the U.S. website Politico, said the U.S. does not plan to change its border policies to account for Canada’s marijuana legalization, which takes effect on Oct. 17.

“We don’t recognize that as a legal business,” said Owen, executive assistant commissioner for the office of field operations.

Owen’s comments corroborated anecdotal reports that have accumulated over the course of the year. Canadians with links to the nascent legal industry, including venture capitalist Sam Znaimer and the chief executive of a B.C. agricultural machinery company, have already been given lifetime entry bans.

Owen said border officers will not begin asking every Canadian about their marijuana use.

He said, however, that officers might ask if “other questions lead there,” or “if there is a smell coming from the car,” or if a dog detects marijuana residue.

Owen did not specify how much equity a Canadian has to hold in a cannabis company to be denied entry. Scott Bernstein, senior policy analyst at the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, said he is troubled by the lack of clarity.

Thousands of Canadians have shares in cannabis companies, which are publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

“They’re investing in a completely legal industry in Canada, but it happens to be the cannabis industry …. That person who owns a mutual fund and maybe doesn’t even know where their money is going, are they going to be covered as well?” Bernstein said.

Bernstein, who also expressed concern about U.S. profiling of people stereotyped as likely marijuana users, said the Canadian government should negotiate with the U.S. at least to secure entry for workers and investors.

But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday that he does not think he has the right to press the U.S. on its admission policy. (Toronto Star)