Police force needs new direction in legalized cannabis industry
Police bust 23 year-old cannabis compassion club in Victoria
Read the original news story at Victoria News.
Is this a good use of our police force, enforcing licensing violations?
Now that cannabis is legal, Canada needs to re-examine the use of our police force. Police need to focus on real crime, not licensing violations. And there is more than enough crime in the country to shift their focus away from cannabis activities.
Cannabis Compassion Clubs cater to the sick and need a Medical Cannabis Retail Licence
A way we can solve the issue of compassion clubs is to provide them with a licence. Accordingly, Canada needs to grant compassion clubs and other similar dispensaries that cater to people who need cannabis for medical purposes with a Medical Cannabis Retail Licence, because recreational stores do not provide medical patients enough quality and quantity at reasonable prices.
Health Canada currently licences those individuals and corporations who desire to sell medical cannabis with a Medical Sale Licence, it just does not regulate brick and mortar stores. Because the provinces are in charge of distribution, the provinces must work with the federal government to create a medical retail licence that allows the original cannabis market to continue helping its patients/clients with legitimate medical need.
Legalization needs to honour the original market
A major hurdle with this new licence is the conceptual framework of Canada’s chosen method of legalization. The federal government decided to create a legal framework by ignoring the current reality of the cannabis industry, and all of its growers, distributors and customers. This was, simply put, rude, because it was those very people who made legalization possible. Without compassion clubs, the growers who supply them, and the medical patients who rely on them, there would be no legalization.
The federal and provincial governments have a collective responsibility to honour all of these brave people who decided to help sick people in the face of going to jail under the previous Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Granting them a licence merely allows their safe and responsible activities to continue. In fact, these clubs are shining examples of how cannabis and a local community promotes healing.
Canada can show the world how to heal instead of bust
Canada can also be a shining example to the world of how we protect the weak and sick, how we stop using the criminal justice system to take away people’s medicine, and how we instead promote healing. It is time, Canada. License the compassion clubs and their growers, and direct the police force onto busting the creators, distributors and sellers of opioids and other life-threatening drugs, and away from providers of plants that heal.