As the idea of toking up legally in Canada approaches reality — the chair for the Canadian task force on cannabis legalization is stressing the importance of all the industry players ‘playing by the rules’ once legalization goes live.
Anne McLellan says if that doesn’t happen, Canadians will be very quick to say legalization isn’t what they expected which will, in turn, put political pressure on all levels of government.
“I know I sound like the nanny state or a hectoring school teacher but it’s so important for people to play by the rules,” says McLellan, “and not be bad actors out of the box and not push up against the rules. We’ve seen this too often, with Big Tobacco and Big Pharma.”
McLellan was a keynote speaker talking about the pathway to legalization in this country at the World Cannabis Congress in Saint John.
McLellan says they’re ready for any surprises that pop up with legalization and that this isn’t the ‘wild west’ which is why the regulatory regime for cannabis might appear to some as strict.
“There are reasons underpinning everything we recommended and everything the government is recommending and I would say provinces as well.”
