Health committee  I don't have any direct experience. I have some anecdotal experience with that. Generally speaking, it's hit or miss. I have clients who have convictions for trafficking offences of cannabis who have no problem going to the United States. I have people who have merely been charge

Health committee  It's a travesty. There were 26,000 Canadians saddled with criminal records from simple possession of marijuana last year while we were moving toward legalizing this product. Their lives are irrevocably harmed by this law. I want to underscore what I said earlier, that Canada ha

Health committee  I think it is an incorrect perception and I think the empirical evidence, particularly what I think Professor Boyd shared with the committee, demonstrates that about 95% of people involved in the cannabis trade are not involved in organized crime as that term is commonly understo

Health committee  Most legal jurisdictions ban the public consumption of cannabis. That's an argument I think in favour of designated consumption spots, like vapour lounges. I think that's an important component of legalizing cannabis. You have to give people a place to consume it socially.

Health committee  It was by choice of the voter. Be that as it may, I think government doesn't have a particularly good track record of competing with the marketplace. Here's the difficulty. Many of these suggestions may be all well and good if we were starting with a tabula rasa, if we were at

Health committee  The over-prescription of opioids is definitely a big contributor, but the reason people are dropping dead in the streets is not that. The reason people are dropping dead in the streets is that they can't get clean product of known potency because of prohibition.

Health committee  Section 7 of the charter requires Canadians not to be deprived of their liberty in particular by laws that are arbitrary, overbroad, or produce grossly disproportionate consequences. If you have a person in a household, say of one and they are able to grow four plants legally, an

Health committee  Let me just point out that the Colorado system is a system of private enterprise, not a government monopoly, so that's—

Health committee  Not only should we do that; we have to do it for this to be successful in eliminating the black market. The fact of the matter is that there are tens if not hundreds of thousands of people involved in the illicit industry today. I've represented many of these people. I would in

Health committee  I think we're absolutely going to have problems with the maintenance of the criminalized approach in this bill. I think it's not just a little bit misguided; it's deeply misguided. I think there are probably some practical and some political reasons why the government has chose

Health committee  There is every reason to put those products into the legal framework. The consequences of not doing so are the continuation of perpetuation of the black market all the way from growing the raw plant material they use to make the products through to the point of sale. We're seeing

Health committee  I certainly could. There are a number of practical difficulties with a government monopoly coupled with a federal jurisdiction over production. Let's take a simple example. Presumably the Government of Ontario is seeking to exert its purchasing power to try to negotiate lower p

Health committee  Mr. Chair, members of the committee, my name is Kirk Tousaw. I am a barrister based in British Columbia. I formerly practised in the United States, which is perhaps why I am on the international panel. I represent clients across Canada, exclusively in cannabis law and policy, and