Following Mike Zmuda’s predictions of how a Conservative government would affect the cannabis industry, the Globe‘s Jameson Berkow assembled a series of quotes about cannabis from Conservative MP and health critic Marilyn Gladu, widely presumed to be presumptive health minister of a future Conservative government.
Night Court—Cannabis Edition, Globe and Mail—Paywall
- Gladu would push Health Canada to enforce its regulations more aggressively—except its packaging regs, which she wants them to relax to compete with the illicit market. Gladu supports the market’s biggest players at the expense of craft growers, opposes home growing, and wants the Canadian government to update international drug-control treaties to reflect legalization.
- Zmuda warned Conservatives would likely abandon the pardons process for those convicted of possession. That won’t sit well with University of Toronto sociology professor Akwasi Owusu-Bempah. He argued if the proposed (and, many believe, inadequate) records-suspension Bill C-93 is allowed to die over summer break, Canadians of colour will suffer most as a result.
The Conversation
Quick Hits
- US politicians have reintroduced the MAPLE (Maintaining Appropriate Protections for Legal Entry) Act, exempting those who admit cannabis use or participation in the Canadian or American legal cannabis industries. The Act is designed to remove the individual discretion of U.S. Customs and Border Protection guards, who at present may or may not refuse entry or ban a person from the U.S. over cannabis.
Globe and Mail—Paywall - The industry side-eyed the Economist‘s Toronto Cannabis Summit 2019 convention over its entry price–$1,295 for a daylong trade show, with speakers including Kevin Sabet of anti-cannabis group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which has been routinely taken to task for making exaggerated or plainly false statements to support its aims.
GrowthOp, Vox, Alternet, Huffpost, Washington Post - Online polling found younger Canadians are far more enthusiastic about legalization than those over 45.
The Star
