The government’s Cannabis Act doesn’t go far enough to legalize marijuana, a panel representing law and bar associations told the Senate committee studying Bill C-45 Wednesday.
“The message that Canadians have is that cannabis will be legal soon. This is not true,” said Paul J. Calarco, a member of the Canadian Bar Association.
There are still serious criminal punishments associated with marijuana in the bill – some as severe as 14 years in jail.
Rather than legalizing recreational marijuana, as many Canadians believe it will, Bill C-45 would continue to criminalize and stigmatize marijuana use, the panel testified.
The bill would also discriminate against young people, underprivileged people, and permanent residents who would be put at a higher risk of being deported, the committee heard.
Punishing young people criminally for something that is legal for adults should “be found to be unconstitutional,” said Michael Spratt of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association.
This bill seems more concerned with helping already privileged people collect a profit than it is about reversing the historic injustices of marijuana prohibition, said Annamaria Enenajor of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association.
To illustrate the absurdity of marijuana criminalization, Spratt said that he has had clients who are routinely turned away from the American border because of small marijuana offences – some decades old. “But I have clients who are convicted of manslaughter who make it through the border no problem,” he said.
The public desperately needs to be educated and engaged with marijuana legislation – and that won’t happen through criminalization, according to panelists.
“Canadians are not nearly informed enough about this legislation,” said Calarco. Most Canadians believe that this legislation will legalize marijuana, but it would only some very limited non-criminal exemptions to possession of cannabis, which is otherwise still illegal, he told the committee.
This makes it very easy for people to inadvertently engage in illegal behavior. And, it could result in vulnerable groups being swept up in the criminal courts, which could over-burden the justice system, Calarco said.
Rather than criminalizing some elements of marijuana usage and sales, “the answer is to treat cannabis like we treat tobacco and alcohol,” said Spratt.
The Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology will continue studying Bill C-45 until the end of May.
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“The message that Canadians have is that cannabis will be legal soon. This is not true,” said Paul J. Calarco, a member of the Canadian Bar Association.
There are still serious criminal punishments associated with marijuana in the bill – some as severe as 14 years in jail.
Rather than legalizing recreational marijuana, as many Canadians believe it will, Bill C-45 would continue to criminalize and stigmatize marijuana use, the panel testified.
The bill would also discriminate against young people, underprivileged people, and permanent residents who would be put at a higher risk of being deported, the committee heard.
Punishing young people criminally for something that is legal for adults should “be found to be unconstitutional,” said Michael Spratt of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association.
This bill seems more concerned with helping already privileged people collect a profit than it is about reversing the historic injustices of marijuana prohibition, said Annamaria Enenajor of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association.
To illustrate the absurdity of marijuana criminalization, Spratt said that he has had clients who are routinely turned away from the American border because of small marijuana offences – some decades old. “But I have clients who are convicted of manslaughter who make it through the border no problem,” he said.
The public desperately needs to be educated and engaged with marijuana legislation – and that won’t happen through criminalization, according to panelists.
“Canadians are not nearly informed enough about this legislation,” said Calarco. Most Canadians believe that this legislation will legalize marijuana, but it would only some very limited non-criminal exemptions to possession of cannabis, which is otherwise still illegal, he told the committee.
This makes it very easy for people to inadvertently engage in illegal behavior. And, it could result in vulnerable groups being swept up in the criminal courts, which could over-burden the justice system, Calarco said.
Rather than criminalizing some elements of marijuana usage and sales, “the answer is to treat cannabis like we treat tobacco and alcohol,” said Spratt.
The Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology will continue studying Bill C-45 until the end of May.
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cocoartist says:
May 4, 2018 at 5:14 am
I am a cancer patient. I use Cannabis. I am appalled that an oz of medication costs well over $300 with taxes. This cost is prohibitive on someone like myself who is a senior and only getting CPP. I smoke it to eat and to control pain. Forget eating, though, with the prices as they are, so how does this help me? It is insane. It will only HELP the BLACK MARKET unless the prices come down. I recently bought underground and I ended up buying Cannabis laced with Crystal Meth! Yes, it was cheaper, but it was not worth what happened to me. I reacted very badly to it and ended up in hospital. So thanks to the federal government; I now have to worry about a psychiatric diagnosis of being a drug abuser. I didn’t need this with cancer but my license ran out while I was sick and I did not want to suffer. Now, in order to have medication, I have to pay these criminal prices!
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Rob says:
May 4, 2018 at 8:04 am
I agree 100% with you. I currently have a choice, all the free narcotics I want (with side effects) paid for by my work benefits, OR $400 a month for cannabis paid out of pocket. If the price doubles with taxes then I will be forced to be creative.
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Frank says:
May 3, 2018 at 6:14 pm
The current legalization platform is simply the criminalization of cannabis adding 40-plus new cannabis convictions through Bill c-45 and c-46 is completely down right disgusting furthermore taking a monopolisation approach over legalization and allowing only governments to choose and decide which government bodies or companies are allowed to participate in the marijuana trade is completely despicable cannabis if anything belongs to the countless men and women across Canada who have risked their lives to bring attention to cannabis from the medical perspective to the world stage it is Canadians who have paved the way to show you how to use and operate dispensaries it is Canadians that have big and pleaded and fought with the court system and one many many times vs Her Majesty for medicinal cannabis purposes in Canada and it is for the countless men and women of Canada who have been persecuted and who have had their lives ruined for simple cannabis possession while in just a few short months to maybe a year or two when legalization actually takes place we will see buddy of our provinces do the same exact thing you’re now currently putting people in jail for talk about a hypocritical system.
Maybe Canadians should throw their politicians in jail for doing the wrong thing for Canada. Maybe our corporations CEOs should be thrown in jail for allowing the theft of billions of dollars to go on for countless years.
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Bruce McIntosh says:
May 3, 2018 at 4:24 pm
It seems like this so-called “legalization” of cannabis is all about keeping the prohibitionists happy and not about mitigating the harms that have been done to cannabis consumers by waging a war on them.
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Roger Morais says:
May 3, 2018 at 3:02 pm
Guess I spoke the truth too much as my comment was erased.
hopefully they get Kirk for a lawyer and we can kill prohibition 2.0 goodbye and have legalization.
