News

The advocacy group Mothers Against Drunk Driving wants Alberta to sell marijuana through government-run stores - at least in the short term - to ensure public safety before profit.

Courtenay's mayor has received death threats from people upset that the RCMP shut down the community's first cannabis dispensary.

A dozen medical pot producers plan to start a chain of Alberta marijuana stores if the provincial government allows private companies to sell recreational weed next year.

Nova Scotia will be launching its public consultations for marijuana legalization within days, with results expected to be compiled and released before the end of the year, the premier's office has confirmed.

Opinions

Trust us, the grass is greener on the other side of state-run business. Anyone who ever had to line up outside one of a handful of Alberta liquor Control Board retail outlets back in the day knows how brutal it was buying something as simple as a case of beer or bottle of wine. It was enough to drive you to drink. Or how about the stress-elevating experience of a visit to the old department of motor vehicles. Talk about road rage. Privatization has made life so much easier in those two areas, not to mention the jobs created through competition and better, varied pricing for consumers in the case of booze - tax portion aside, of course.

The chorus calling on Ottawa to decriminalize possession of all drugs is growing louder and more urgent. The government should listen

Alberta Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley has announced the first details of Alberta's plans for selling marijuana once the product is legalized across the nation in July.

The Trudeau government's notice that recreational use of marijuana will be legal on July 1, 2018, has created a number of challenges for provincial politicians. Legalizing the substance is the easy part. More difficult is deciding how the drug will be sold to customers, where retail outlets will be located, where cannabis can be smoked and how police will be able to detect those who have consumed too much pot.

Letters

Re. Why not legalize everything?, Letter, Sept. 23: I am a "senior" in my fifth decade who is offended deeply by this letter. Marijuana was purely and simply outlawed in the 1930s by Harry J. Anslinger merely because of corporate pressure for what scientists could manufacture in a lab to soar profits.

Re. Why not legalize everything? Letter, Sept. 21: As an upstanding citizen of society in my 35th year of living, I have experienced a lot of ignorance towards marijuana and the supposed effects it has on people.

Re: Plan to police cannabis-impaired driving full of holes: experts (Sept. 29) Can we stop the parade of nonsense about the dangers of the legalization of marijuana? People have been smoking marijuana for decades and the idea that there will be a crush of people rushing to use this drug and drive is unfounded. You cannot stop drug use by criminalizing it. You simply create victims and drug dealers.

"It is a law of politics that shamelessness pays, but only in Canada would it be taken to this level of nakedly self-serving, patronizing demagoguery without an indignant shove back from the consuming public. We're just so used to it." - Neil Macdonald, CBC News.

Editor: Re: Bill Good's "Emery pot bust makes no sense," Sept. 22. Instead of continuing to waste money on the failed War on Drugs, we should end drug prohibition and spend the money we save on making all schools safe places to learn.

I keep hearing arguments against the government's plan to legalize marijuana. It seems that those opposed believe there will be a massive increase in consumption and a huge increase in people driving while under the influence of the demon weed.

Editor: Re: Police want date pushed back on legalizing pot, Sept. 20 The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police insists it needs more time to adapt to cannabis legislation. Well, too bad for the chiefs.