Skip to content

Legal cannabis is finally here. Now what?

While it’s only been about 18 months since the federal government introduced its legislation to legalize recreational cannabis use in Canada, it seems like it’s been a much longer timeframe than that.

While it’s only been about 18 months since the federal government introduced its legislation to legalize recreational cannabis use in Canada, it seems like it’s been a much longer timeframe than that.

After all, the date to legalize marijuana was pushed back earlier this year, from Canada Day (which seemed like a fitting date, at least for legal cannabis proponents) to Oct. 17, which seems like an abstract date.

There has been so much talk about cannabis being legalized, and the ramifications for everyone from landlords to employers to law enforcement, that it seems like we’ve been talking about the issue for several years.

Now it’s here. And the focus has shifted to “now what?”

At times, it seems like the federal government has been tripping over its proverbial shoelaces on this issue. There was the delay in the legalization date. And there have been questions that have lingered throughout this process.

Some of them have been answered regarding provincial jurisdiction, the amount the federal government will have to share with the provinces, the legal age of consumption, and the regulations surrounding cannabis sales.

We know that Estevan will have one pot retailer, and it will be in a strip mall in the northeast corner of the city. It won’t be open on Oct. 17, but it will likely be open soon. There are some concerns about the proximity of the store to the Estevan Comprehensive School, but there is a bar with an off-sale outlet located closer to the school.

Employers have been forced to consult their legal teams to determine how they can handle employees who use marijuana on the job or how to handle those who show up to work while impaired by marijuana

They even have to look at how long an employee has to wait to work after using cannabis.

And then there’s the ramifications for law enforcement, which has likely been the issue to gain the most attention.

There are lots of concerns, and for good reason, about how police will test for impairment. Many are skeptical about the saliva test, which has been cited as a means to test for cannabis.

Police are pretty good at gauging whether someone is impaired by marijuana, but there is still the risk of someone not being charged when they should be, or someone being unfairly charged.

The one bit of good news is there’s zero tolerance for impairment by cannabis.

A lot of people think the country isn’t ready for cannabis to be legalized, and they’re probably right.

The feds put themselves in a tough position on this one. When they promised legalized cannabis during the last federal election, they didn’t seem to realize how complex the issue would be.

They didn’t have a map to guide them based on the experiences of other nations; Canada is just the second nation in the world to legalize cannabis, joining Uruguay. It’s unlikely you’ll see many nations following suit, and if they do, they likely won’t be following Canada’s lead on this one.

It’s also going to be an evolving issue. It’s been nearly a century since prohibition of alcohol was lifted in Canada, but alcohol legislation is constantly being reviewed and updated.

This isn’t the first time the feds how encountered an election promise that proved to be more difficult than they thought. Remember the promises for electoral reform? The Liberals abandoned it when they realized the complexity of the issue, and that Canadians wouldn’t be happy if they passed a system, namely the preferential ballot, that distinctly favoured the Liberals.

So they bailed on electoral reform. That was the right move. And while bailing on legalized cannabis would have been the right move on the surface, you can imagine the field day the Liberals opponents would have had if the Trudeau government ditched another campaign promise.

The Tories would have been quick to reintroduce the “He’s just not ready” commercials from the last federal election about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The Liberals also couldn’t delay legalization any longer, since the next federal election is now less than a year away.

So they had to forge ahead with it, even though this doesn’t feel like the right time, and it doesn’t feel like the Liberals have taken the right approach.