Category: Cannabis

One Step Closer to Cannabis Regulation

At the initiative of Moralea Milne, Councillor in the Municipality of Metchosin, B.C., a resolution at this year’s UBCM conference called on the government to decriminalize marijuana and research its regulation and taxation. As you may have noticed, you can’t stumble over a newspaper or a radio report without hearing that the resolution passed. Media headlines like “Municipal leaders join call to decriminalize pot,” announced the success of this resolution at B.C.’s annual conference of municipal elected officials in Victoria. Even now as I write, the CBC morning show is debating regulation of cannabis.

It looks like these municipal officials have joined the chorus of voices expressing their disapproval for current laws that prohibit cannabis. Due to the efforts of Stop the Violence BC, former mayors and former Attorney Generals have spoken out against current cannabis laws.

While the motion supports the decriminalization of marijuana, it also pushes higher levels of government to research legalization and taxation. At Monday’s study session at UBCM, city officials were tangibly frustrated with the current state of affairs. Municipal officials continually find themselves shouldering the burden of prohibition, including rising police costs and complaints from citizens that run the gamut from concerns about the grow op next door, to the lack of accessibility of medical cannabis.

At the same time, estimates of the value of the underground economy usually settle somewhere between 6 and 7 billion dollars and 44.3% of B.C. residents have used marijuana, with 46% of 16-18 year olds trying marijuana at least once.[1] Clearly this lucrative industry continues to attract customers.

Lurking in the background of the conversation are the same old concerns about the health and other effects of this drug. It seems to me that while we should acknowledge this concern, we need to remind ourselves that we currently regulate harmful substances like alcohol and tobacco. The question is this: are we achieving what we want from prohibiting cannabis? The statistics above suggest that we are not achieving our goals – and we haven’t included policing and other criminal justice costs that occur when people are arrested for possession.

As David Bratzer from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition reminded his UBCM audience on Monday, we have three options for the control or regulation of marijuana: leave things as they are, where an unregulated group of people produce and sell an unregulated product; we could legalize it and allow it to be fully commercialized by corporations, a mistake made ad naseum with alcohol and tobacco, or we could consider legalizing and regulating it.

This last option could draw on the best thinking in tobacco control, and combine this with a clear-eyed assessment of the positive and negative effects of this substance. Of course even among advocates of cannabis law reform there isn’t necessarily agreement about what a regulatory model would look like. So coming up with a model won’t be easy.

Sometimes it seems like attempts to legalize and regulate cannabis contradict the growing trend of public health scrutiny towards ingestible products. On Monday the local Medical Health Officer in Victoria, B.C. suggested that a ban on high sugar drinks might be coming. But we need to remind ourselves that this policy move would not ban sugar (try to imagine what would happen if we did) but instead send a clear message that high sugar drinks (and I’m talking about 473 ml drinks that contain as much as 16 teaspoons of sugar) might not be all that great for our health.

Clearly, I’m not a civil libertarian about these matters. I believe there is a role for social policy in regulating cannabis. Imagine a situation where you could buy cannabis products labeled with the THC content, where you knew if the product was organic and where the technologies for ingesting this product without smoke were widely available.

What do you think about a regulated model for cannabis? Let us know. We want to hear from you.

September 28, 2012
What would it take to change cannabis laws in Canada?

Laws against cannabis in this country are the domain of the federal government. This is because cannabis is currently a controlled substance subject to the provisions of federal criminal law. In the current political climate, Stephen Harper’s Conservative government is unlikely to consider changes to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. But this hasn’t stopped activists in B.C. from pushing hard to end cannabis prohibition.

Sensible BC is pushing forward a ballot initiative that would direct the B.C. provincial government to pass the Sensible Policing Act. It would redirect all police in the province from taking any action, including searches, seizures, citations or arrests, in cases of simple cannabis possession by adults. This would apply to all RCMP and municipal police in B.C.

The success of these initiatives relies heavily on the political opportunity created by the intersection of media coverage and police claims about marijuana production in this province. In the past ten years, newspapers in B.C. have routinely covered marijuana issues by repeatedly pointing out the extent to which the production of this plant is controlled by organized crime and beset with violence and general social chaos. In a move sure to have the scholars of social movements talking for years, Stop the Violence BC (STV-BC) has moved into the space created by this media/police spectacle and garnered the support of key politicians, including four former Attorney Generals, to oppose the continued prohibition of cannabis.

Yesterday, one of STV-BC’s founders, Dr. Evan Wood, spoke at a study session at the annual Union of B.C. Municipalities convention in advance of a vote on a resolution on decriminalization scheduled for Wednesday of this week. His presentation emphasized the failures of prohibition and urged the audience to consider regulation as an alternative. This study session featured a debate between Wood and a key opponent of regulation, Dr. Darryl Plecas, RCMP University Research Chair at the University College of the Fraser Valley.

Plecas’ support for municipal programs that crack down on grow ops did not sit well with some members of the audience, especially where these programs have unnecessarily targeted innocent homeowners with intrusive electrical inspections and fines. The comments of his fellow opponents of regulation including Dave Williams, RCMP, and Pat Slack, Snohomish Regional Drug and Gang Task Force in Washington State, also seemed to admit the failure of drug prohibition even as these speakers ardently opposed the regulation of cannabis. This was apparent in their repeated comments that cannabis enforcement usually results in market displacement rather than eradication.

Another speaker at this debate, Geoff Plant, a former B.C. Attorney General, grabbed the attention of his audience by speaking directly to their concerns about rising costs, and emphasizing that current laws are out of step with the social, economic and other potential harms of cannabis use. He urged them to consider that a law that is routinely and widely flouted makes all law a joke. Plant evoked laughter from his audience when he suggested that we need to get over our “multigenerational Reefer Madness” and deal with drugs as a public health issue, rather than through a failed criminal justice policy.

These sentiments were echoed in a public event sponsored by Sensible BC later in the evening. Dana Larson kicked off the ballot initiative campaign with a roster of speakers who again forcefully made the case that current cannabis laws are routinely disregarded and that its harms do not nearly approximate the harms that ensue from continued prohibition, which include a vast underground economy, loss of tax revenue, drug violence, and an unregulated product.

While speakers from both of these events were able to make the case that drug laws need to be changed, the “how” of cannabis regulation still requires further development and some creative thinking.

The CDPC is committed to talking with Canadians about the possibilities of cannabis regulation and helping to build a regulatory framework that takes into consideration what we’ve learned from public health approaches to alcohol and tobacco. Stay tuned for more.

September 25, 2012
Director’s Report

The past three months have been a blur of activity as we further establish our presence and connect with organizations and individuals across the country and around the world. There truly is something bigger going on and momentum is building towards considering new and innovative approaches to addressing drug problems.

Mexico Unido Contra la Delincuencia

In February, I was invited to speak at an international conference in Mexico City – Drogas: Un balance a un siglo de su prohicion, organized by the crime prevention group Mexico Unido Contra la Delincuencia. The forum provided a thorough consideration of possible alternatives to the devastating consequences of the Mexican government’s war on drugs. Speakers came from around the world to share stories of innovation, legislative changes and practices that have moved their drug policies towards a public health approach and away from a failed criminal justice model.

Integrating Supervised Injection Into Health Services and Community: A National Knowledge Exchange

CAHR 2012 Montréal

In April, CDPC organized a forum on supervised injection services in partnership with the Dr. Peter Centre in Vancouver and Cactus Montreal as an ancillary event at the Canadian Association of HIV Research meeting in Montreal. The event was held in the beautiful Biblioteque et Archive National du Quebec and was a chance for organizations to share their experiences and review the current state of the discussion in their jurisdictions. CDPC will be working with a number of organizations to keep this national discussion moving forward as different localities explore implementing these services.

North American Drug Strategy Meeting – San Francisco, April 12, 13

San Fransisco

As part of CDPC’s international work we co-hosted a meeting in partnership with the Drug Policy Alliance in the US and CUPHID from Mexico City to explore the development of a coordinated North American drug policy dialogue. The San Francisco meeting was the initial exploratory session to see how we can work together to bring forward alternatives to North America’s current drug policies. In an effort to strengthen our ties across the continent, CDPC is currently looking for Canadian allies interested in supporting our work in Mexico.

Visit to the Maritimes

People & Policies Conference Halifax

As part of our ongoing efforts to build a national coalition I visited Atlantic Canada in May, attending events and meetings in Halifax, Saint John, New Brunswick and Charlottetown. Atlantic Harm Reduction Research Network invited CDPC to be a part of their public session – People and Policies: How do Drug Policies Impact the Health of our Communities? In addition to this, a day-long session with service providers and researchers also considered how best to integrate harm reduction services into shelter and emergency ward settings.

In Saint John, NB, AIDS Saint John, the Urban and Community Studies Institute at University of New Brunswick and CDPC co-hosted an event – Drugs and the City, which featured a panel discussion on drug policy with Tim Christie, Ethics Director, Saint John Health Region and Bill Reid, Chief of Saint John Police Department.

In Charlottetown, I met with a number of parents who are concerned about the lack of youth treatment on the Island and are interested in organizing a provincial “addictions movement” to generate discussion, share experiences and engage the provincial government in dialogue on improving services for people with drug problems.

Thunder Bay Municipal Drug Strategy

Pot, Pills and Parties Thunder Bay

On May 24^th Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy and Thunder Bay Drug Strategy put on the event – Pot, Pills and Parties. The event focused on the impact of Bill C-10 on young people and included a presentation from CDPC – Changing the Frame: A New Approach to Drug Policy in Canada.

As CDPC reaches out across the country we are finding new and innovative ways to strengthen and build our national coalition to improve Canada’s approach to drug problems. We will continue to engage Canadians and work at the international level towards this end.

Photo Credits:
Mexico – Steve Rolles
Montréal – Caroline Mousseau
San Fransisco – CC Flickr evoo73
Halifax – Wooden Shoe Photography

June 29, 2012
Health authority releases new cannabis harm reduction resource

Last week, Vancouver Coastal Health and the University of Victoria’s Centre for Addictions Research of BC published a valuable resource for individuals who use cannabis recreationally.

Take Care with Cannabis is a user friendly, concise, accessible one-page information source that outlines the potential risks of smoking and ingesting cannabis. Intended to protect the well being of individuals, Take Care with Cannabis provides insight into the impact of using the plant on a smoker’s lungs, cognitive abilities, and brain development during adolescence and early adulthood. It discusses how to stay safe when using cannabis and how to avoid toxic effects.

Take Care with Cannabis

John Carsley, Medical Health Officer for co-author Vancouver Coastal Health said,

“It’s our responsibility as health care professionals to ensure that anyone who chooses to use cannabis has clear information about how they can take better care when using.

While cannabis is illegal in Canada, the reality is that a significant portion of the population uses it. And when they use it, it’s our desire to see them be as safe as possible.”

‘Harm reduction’ refers to policies, programs and practices that aim to reduce the negative health, social and economic consequences of using legal and illegal psychoactive drugs, without necessarily reducing drug use. Raising awareness about the realities and benefits of harm reduction for individuals, families and communities is core to the work of the CDPC.

We know that the more informed people are, the more support there will be within communities for a comprehensive approach to reducing the harm from drug use.

We hope you will join us to get the word out and help scale up harm reduction in communities across Canada.

May 2, 2012
Three drug policy stories to watch in 2012
Insite opens the door

North America’s only sanctioned safe injection facility was the big news story of 2011. The September 30, 2011 Canadian supreme court decision in favor of the safe injection facility is a crucial victory for evidence-based science and policy over ideology. It is a historic decision for harm reduction advocates that has seemingly opened the door to similar services throughout Canada and possibly into the United States. It took the tenacity of the PHS Community Services Society to make it happen along with the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users.

The court ruling is explained on the PIVOT Legal Society’s blog “The historic Insite decision in a nutshell.” On May 17, 2011 the Director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, Donald MacPherson, moderated a packed evening of discussion with legal professionals, medical experts, community activists and supervised injection site users. The evening focused on demystifying the legal battle and making the case for evidence-based drug policy.

Check out the video here. Quebec seems like the next province set to open similar facilities.

A recent report from the Montreal public health department has recommended opening three supervised injection sites and a mobile one in city neighbourhoods where intravenous drug use is rampant.We recently spoke with Cactus Montreal representative Jean-Francois Mary about the impact of the ruling and future of supervised injection facillities in Montreal. You can watch the interview here.

The Omnibus Crime Bill

The Safe Streets and Communities Act passed in parliament with a majority vote of 157 to 127. It now sits in the senate. The conservative government has promised to push it into law by March 16, 2012, the 100th sitting day of the 41st Parliament.

This Crime Bill moves Canada in the wrong direction. If passed, the bill will introduce mandatory minimum sentences for low-level drug crimes, further criminalizing individuals who use drugs and creating an enormous additional financial burden on society. This kind of sentencing practice has been a complete failure in the last 20 years in the United States as part of their “war on drugs.” It has deeply marginalized vulnerable citizens and done nothing to deter organized drug-related crime.

Bill C-10 flies in the face of all of the evidence. The CDPC is not against legislation that attempts to address crime in our communities, but it must be based on a body of evidence that proves it can achieve its goals. Bill C-10 fails this test. Quebec’s justice minister has called the crime bill an inappropriate tough on democracy measure. Newfoundland’s Justice Minister has spoken out as well, saying the new crime bill will be completely unaffordable and has not been properly researched. Grand Chief Derik Nepinak of Manitoba’s Assembly of Chiefs, called a national press conference to say that the bill’s mandatory sentences would continue the legacy of residential schools, and must be opposed. Join us in 2012 as we work together withcoalition members and LeadNow and Avaaz to write next chapter.

Canadian Medical Cannabis Regulation

In April 2011 the Ontario Superior Court Justice Donald Taliano struck down the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations, ruling that ailing people are often unable to access medical marijuana through appropriate means and must find alternative illegal sources, risking arrest and criminal charges. He concluded that unless the government addresses the legislative flaws within three months, the criminal law would be struck down.

The Conservative government is appealing the ruling. In June 2011 the Government of Canada announced it is considering improvements to the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations program to reduce the risk of abuse and exploitation by criminal elements.

The proposed changes include:
- Eliminating personal production licenses, ending legal personal home marijuana cultivation altogether
- Eliminating patient identification cards, putting patients at risk of police action
- Building a system of private for-profit marijuana growers and sellers who would provide to all patients in Canada, severely limiting the range of quality strains of medicine
- Continuing the unconstitutional “doctors as gatekeepers” system
- Failing to address the many compassion clubs and medical marijuana dispensaries currently open across Canada
“The government proposes to remove Health Canada as the ultimate arbiter in approving or rejecting applications to possess marijuana for medical use, and instead leave it up to doctors to decide whether their patients should be licensed to do so. While this might appear to be a liberalization, it is widely being rejected by doctors, who rightly assert that a responsibility that should pertain to Health Canada is being off-loaded on them without appropriate research having been conducted on the medicinal properties of marijuana.”

Many members of the CDPC are calling for alternative approaches to medical and broader cannabis related policies. The Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries is a coalition partner working towards a regulated community-based approach to medical cannabis access and supporting medical cannabis dispensaries to provide the highest quality of patient care. Check out their campaign.

Stop the Violence BC is a coalition of academics, past/present members of law enforcement, and the general public concerned about the links between cannabis prohibition in BC and the growth of organized crime and related violence in the province. Calling for a regulated approach Stop the Violence makes a strong case for policy reform in BC and provides a solid foundation of public support and evidence for implementing change.

Also in 2012-Keep an eye out for the first CDPC policy paper out soon!

Right now, get involved in spreading the Health Officers Council of BC (HOC) recently released discussion paper, Public Health Perspectives for Regulating Psychoactive Substances – What we can do about alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.
Together with the HOC we hope to stimulate public and governmental discussions, development of policy proposals, and action on public health oriented regulation of psychoactive substances. Subsequent to receipt of letters of support and feedback over the next few months the HOC will be submitting this paper, with necessary addenda or changes, to governments for their response and action. Send us your message of support, sign up to the coalition, and write to the HOC directly.

Dr. Paul Hasselback, Chair
3rd Floor, 6475 Metral Drive
Nanaimo, BC V9T 2L9
Fax: 250-755-3372
January 2, 2012