Canadian Marijuana Legalization Bill Coming In Spring 2017

[canuckfromlangley]

1 hour ago, Hamhuis Hip Check said:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/senate-passes-government-pot-bill-1.4713222

Senators have voted to pass the federal government's bill legalizing recreational marijuana by a vote of 52 to 29, with two abstentions, paving the way for a fully legal cannabis market within eight to 12 weeks.

"I'm feeling just great," said Sen. Tony Dean, who sponsored the bill in the Senate. "We've just witnessed a historic vote for Canada. The end of 90 years of prohibition. Transformative social policy, I think. A brave move on the part of the government."

Dean said he thought the Senate functioned well throughout the process and he was proud of the work the Red Chamber did.

"Now we can start to tackle some of the harms of cannabis. We can start to be proactive in public education. We'll see the end of criminalization and we can start addressing Canada's $7 billion illegal market. These are good things for Canada."

 

 

Initially, the government had planned for the bill to be passed by both houses of Parliament in time for retail sales to begin by July 1. That timeline was pushed back after the Senate requested more time to review the bill.

Now that the bill has passed, it's up to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet to choose the actual date when the legalization of recreational marijuana becomes law of the land. Bill C-45 comes with a provisional buffer period of eight to 12 weeks to give provinces time to prepare for actual sales of recreational marijuana.

News of the bill's passage drew immediate response from some of the government's critics on social media.

The Senate and the House of Commons battled over the bill for months.

The Senate had proposed 46 amendments to the Cannabis Act. The Liberal government rejected 13 of those proposed changes last week — including one provision that would have affirmed the provinces' right to ban home cultivation of marijuana.

Quebec, Manitoba and Nunavut all want to forbid their citizens from growing recreational marijuana at home, even once cannabis is legalized federally. The Senate suggested the federal government affirm the provinces' right to do so in the Cannabis Act.

 

 

"One of the strong recommendations by experts was that we ensure personal cultivation of four plants at home," Trudeau told reporters last week.

"We understand there are questions and concerns about this, and we understand also that it will be important to study the impacts of what we're doing and whether there can be changes made in three years, but we need to move forward on better protecting our communities."

A motion was moved today that would have seen the amendment returned to the bill, but senators defeated it by a vote of 45-35.

Some amendments stripped away

Another significant Senate amendment that was stripped from the bill would have created a public registry of investors in cannabis companies. That amendment was crafted by Conservative Sen. Claude Carignan to keep criminal gangs from using offshore tax havens to invest in Canada's cannabis industry.

Another significant Senate amendment quashed by the government would have banned the distribution of branded "swag" by pot companies, such as T-shirts, hats and phone cases that display a company logo.

Sen. Tony Dean, who sponsored Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act, speaks to reporters after the vote on the bill in the Senate foyer on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, June 19, 2018. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)

On Monday of this week, 205 MPs voted to send the bill, minus 13 of the 46 Senate amendments, back to the Red Chamber for what the government hoped at the time would be one final vote.

NDP MPs supported the bill, while those on the Conservative benches voted against it.

I had to laugh a little.  I heard the 2 senators who abstained from the vote we're both conservatives with substantial investments in the industry.

[Lancaster]

3 hours ago, canuckfromlangley said:

I had to laugh a little.  I heard the 2 senators who abstained from the vote we're both conservatives with substantial investments in the industry.

It's to prevent the appearance of collusion.  They may belong to the Conservative party, but may be pro-marijuana.

Since they have the potential to benefit financially by having the legislation pass, it's best they abstain from the vote.  

[Tortorella's Rant]

Reading some of the comments from the younger generation on Facebook about how they want to move to Canada because the weed is legal. And I'm just thinking, yeah, it's a great place if you want to be high all day, pay half your salary in taxes, and live under the overpass because affordable housing is nonexistent.

[Russ]

6 hours ago, Tortorella's Rant said:

Reading some of the comments from the younger generation on Facebook about how they want to move to Canada because the weed is legal. And I'm just thinking, yeah, it's a great place if you want to be high all day, pay half your salary in taxes, and live under the overpass because affordable housing is nonexistent.

Hahaha exactly. 

 

Hell people are already buying pot wherever they want without any problems, the fact this is legal doesn't really make a difference, I doubt most people who don't do pot now are suddenly going to start.  If it can gain some tax dollars for cities and not have my taxes raised then so be it.  It has similar rules to drinking and smoking already, and people aren't going to suddently become pot heads now that its legal.

[Chicken.]

6 hours ago, Russ said:

Hahaha exactly. 

 

Hell people are already buying pot wherever they want without any problems, the fact this is legal doesn't really make a difference, I doubt most people who don't do pot now are suddenly going to start.  If it can gain some tax dollars for cities and not have my taxes raised then so be it.  It has similar rules to drinking and smoking already, and people aren't going to suddently become pot heads now that its legal.

I wonder how many people are going to try their luck at growing their own plants? That seems like the most significant rule change imo since dont they absolutely reek during a certain point in the cycle?

 

 

 

[CBH1926]

Now you can play video games all day, get high and live in the parents basement.

[Wilbur]

2 minutes ago, CBH1926 said:

Now you can play video games all day, get high and live in the parents basement.

Pretty sure you could already do that.

[Bizarre]

2 minutes ago, CBH1926 said:

Now you can play video games all day, get high and live in the parents basement.

Obviously you couldn't do that last year. 

[Bizarre]

Just now, Wilbur said:

Pretty sure you could already do that.

Jerk... Ha!

[Wilbur]

2 hours ago, Chicken. said:

I wonder how many people are going to try their luck at growing their own plants? That seems like the most significant rule change imo since dont they absolutely reek during a certain point in the cycle?

 

 

 

Heh, the real question is how many people give up on growing their own plants because neighbours keep on raiding their stache.

[Wilbur]

2 minutes ago, Bizarre said:

Jerk... Ha!

Clearly I put down the controller before you did.

[Bizarre]

1 minute ago, Wilbur said:

Clearly I put down the controller before you did.

It's 7am where am I need to sleep still. Probably fumbled my way through typing that. 

[Russ]

11 hours ago, Chicken. said:

I wonder how many people are going to try their luck at growing their own plants? That seems like the most significant rule change imo since dont they absolutely reek during a certain point in the cycle?

 

 

 

I could see some people trying it. Do the plants smell much?  I don't know much about pot myself.

[Emmetts]

good on legalization
Government shouldn't criminalize something far less harmful then legal pharmaceuticals.

 

Next up, bringing Hemp into power.

[SergioMomesso]

Finally out of the dark ages here. Now just need to tweek the liquor laws a bit. I still don't understand why I can't take a stroll down Robson street with a nice cold brew in my hand without getting tazered.  

[Master 112]

All hail King Justin, Harbinger of the High Times

[Ronaldoescobar]

Well not much that can be done now but they should have gone the opposite ways with much much much stronger sentences for using/selling this gateway drug that has killed billions around the world. Run for-profit prisons and just cash in $$$$$$$

[Shift-4]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/dogs-rcmp-marijuana-retrain-retire-1.4759428

 

 

Quote

 

Pot legalization puts 14 RCMP sniffer dogs out of work

Ability to detect marijuana could make dogs' evidence inadmissible in court

CBC News · Posted: Jul 24, 2018 10:59 AM MT | Last Updated: an hour ago

 

Kona is one of more than a dozen interdiction dogs for the RCMP whose marijuana sniffing skills will soon disqualify them for the job they were trained to do. (Anis Heydari/CBC)

The upcoming legalization of marijuana in Canada is expected to create a lot of jobs for people, but it's putting one group of dogs out of work.

More than a dozen RCMP interdiction dogs, which are used primarily to search for drugs, are being retired or sold to other forces, since their training to sniff marijuana could cause problems for Crown prosecutors once pot is no longer illegal to possess.

 

"Our interdiction dogs are often used to form grounds to continue searching or to arrest people," said Staff Sgt. Gary Creed, a senior trainer with the RCMP's police dog service in Innisfail, Alta., where all of the national police force's dogs are trained.

• Calgary cannabis company partners with Saskatchewan First Nation

 

"If they have trained marijuana in them, some of their evidence would not be admissible in court."

 

Countrywide, 14 interdiction dogs need to be replaced, but some of them were close to the end of their working lives and will just be retired as pets. Five or six others will likely be sold to other forces or agencies.

"It's definitely a strain. We didn't plan to replace these. There's 14 dogs that we have to replace," Creed said.

 

The dogs that were trained to sniff marijuana will be sold to another agency rather than go into service for the RCMP as an interdiction dog. (CBC)

 

The remainder of the RCMP's approximately 170 dogs are general service K-9s whose pot sniffing skills are still useful.

 

"A general duty dog that's trained with narcotics, they're used in deployment for narcotic detection. People have already been under arrest, or they're there to support some type of statutory thing such as a search warrant. So the dogs now are just used to search to find things," Creed said.

 

The initial training process for a dog paired with an officer takes about six weeks, Creed said.

 

"All these experienced handlers are going to be coming in and getting new dogs. We're planning on taking about 20 days to do that, about half the time."

 

"It's way easier to train the dogs than it is the man."

 

Damn you Trudeau.

Putting good dogs out of work!

[Alflives]

On 2018-06-22 at 11:03 AM, SergioMomesso said:

Finally out of the dark ages here. Now just need to tweek the liquor laws a bit. I still don't understand why I can't take a stroll down Robson street with a nice cold brew in my hand without getting tazered.  

I really don’t like the smell of burning pot.  It’s not so nasty as cigarette smoke, but still stinks.  As for beer on the streets, I drive my scooter along Granville (especially on these hotter days) with a beer or a vodka cooler in my cup holder.  (I’ve only been tazered once!:)

[Slegr]

1 hour ago, Alflives said:

I really don’t like the smell of burning pot.  It’s not so nasty as cigarette smoke, but still stinks.  As for beer on the streets, I drive my scooter along Granville (especially on these hotter days) with a beer or a vodka cooler in my cup holder.  (I’ve only been tazered once!:)

I have a new neighbour who smokes pot every day and it stinks up the block. It whafts through our open windows all summer long now. The street has lots of young kids and the neighbour has a one-year-old. I didn’t mind the legalization movement until this clown moved next door.