Jodie Emery asks for position on the federal panel of experts

They already stated it's closed to the public unfortunately. Also, let's not all forget the massive shitacane that was the G20 conference on Blairs watch. Fucken knob goes about 3 steps beyond what's needed so it'll be interesting to see how rec turns out

Brian Savage said:

Can I apply to be on this panel?

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Naw...its a panel of experts handpicked by the government...they don't really want to know...just make it look like they do.

WHATFG said:

Naw...its a panel of experts handpicked by the government...they don't really want to know...just make it look like they do.

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The only thing a government is an experts on is wasting tax dollars then trying to hatch corrupt plans to gain it back all while hurting the peers who elected them. FUCK CORRUPT GOV and fuck you Mr. Blair for yet again not allowing anyone with actual cannabis knowledge in.

If they biff it, we need to call them out on it!!!!

I would like to see some pro-cannabis people on the panel, but I think not having them there is just going to prolong the process and in the end we end up with what we want (or as close to it as society accepts). The mandate of the panel is to develop a system for legalization that will remove profits from the black market and restrict access to kids. They are never going to achieve that outcome by limiting production to a few big players, banning home grows or any of the other fears being tossed around here. Prohibition fueled the BM for a century and drove up prices. They understand legal cannabis will need to be accessible for adults, kept away from kids and be affordable. Without those three factors being met, there will be opposition from both sides and the bm will continue to thrive. It pisses me off watching all the greed as different groups fight to profit from a product they previously opposed, but there's not much we can do about it. I don't see anything that says it won't be treated the same as alcohol. Until there is evidence that legalization will resemble prohibition 2.0, it's a little premature to be getting bent out of shape over 'what-if's' IMO.

VIANARCHRIS said:

IThe mandate of the panel is to develop a system for legalization that will remove profits from the black market and restrict access to kids.

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Well here's the problem, remove the black market and watch a huge change in the economy especially for smaller towns/cities let say Nelson BC the weed growing capital of Canada. Since this is Canada wide you'll see retail, housing and car sales take a dump. Just ask the car dealers in Surrey how the 48 hour inspection worked for them.

Think of the children is just straight BS strawman. First of all you are legalizing if for adults not children, second you are already making it available publicly with out a black market so the gov themselves is already making it more visible to children since the parents will be smoking it in the house/outdoor/etc. They wont admit it but kids could get their hands on weed easier then their parents for decades.

Let me guess afterwards they'll put up anti marijuana posters directed at kids making the kids go, hmm interesting another forbidden fruit I didn't know about, maybe I'll try it.

VIANARCHRIS said:

I would like to see some pro-cannabis people on the panel, but I think not having them there is just going to prolong the process and in the end we end up with what we want (or as close to it as society accepts). The mandate of the panel is to develop a system for legalization that will remove profits from the black market and restrict access to kids. They are never going to achieve that outcome by limiting production to a few big players, banning home grows or any of the other fears being tossed around here. Prohibition fueled the BM for a century and drove up prices. They understand legal cannabis will need to be accessible for adults, kept away from kids and be affordable. Without those three factors being met, there will be opposition from both sides and the bm will continue to thrive. It pisses me off watching all the greed as different groups fight to profit from a product they previously opposed, but there's not much we can do about it. I don't see anything that says it won't be treated the same as alcohol. Until there is evidence that legalization will resemble prohibition 2.0, it's a little premature to be getting bent out of shape over 'what-if's' IMO.

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If you really think legal weed will be affordable you're crazy. You just need to look at cigarettes and liquor. Why would you think weed will suddenly be affordable? If anything cost per gram will go up not down. We can argue about what legal weed will look like but affordable isn't even up for debate. It will only get more expensive period.

CannaReview said:

Well here's the problem, remove the black market and watch a huge change in the economy especially for smaller towns/cities let say Nelson BC the weed growing capital of Canada. Since this is Canada wide you'll see retail, housing and car sales take a dump. Just ask the car dealers in Surrey how the 48 hour inspection worked for them.

Think of the children is just straight BS strawman. First of all you are legalizing if for adults not children, second you are already making it available publicly with out a black market so the gov themselves is already making it more visible to children since the parents will be smoking it in the house/outdoor/etc. They wont admit it but kids could get their hands on weed easier then their parents for decades.

Let me guess afterwards they'll put up anti marijuana posters directed at kids making the kids go, hmm interesting another forbidden fruit I didn't know about, maybe I'll try it.

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So you are against legalization because you want to protect the black market and small town economy? I don't get it. Why would you not be for making the bm growers legit? They will be a benefit to the community once they start paying taxes like every other business. I'm sure the moonshiner's felt the same way when prohibition ended, but the industry survived...even with government regulations. I can see those who have made a career out of growing and selling tax free will have a tough time accepting the transition to the real world of rules and taxes, some will survive and some won't. Obviously I have never been a BM grower so I don't face the possibility of losing my income, but wanting to continue to operate illegally in order to maximize profit is no different than the LP's trying to be sole suppliers, imo. I'm not trying to start an argument, I have just never heard the argument FOR continued prohibition before and I don't get it.

VIANARCHRIS said:

So you are against legalization because you want to protect the black market and small town economy? I don't get it. Why would you not be for making the bm growers legit? They will be a benefit to the community once they start paying taxes like every other business. I'm sure the moonshiner's felt the same way when prohibition ended, but the industry survived...even with government regulations. I can see those who have made a career out of growing and selling tax free will have a tough time accepting the transition to the real world of rules and taxes, some will survive and some won't. Obviously I have never been a BM grower so I don't face the possibility of losing my income, but wanting to continue to operate illegally in order to maximize profit is no different than the LP's trying to be sole suppliers, imo. I'm not trying to start an argument, I have just never heard the argument FOR continued prohibition before and I don't get it.

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I don't care which ever way it goes, to me it should be treated like any plant ie free for all, if you don't want it that way then you are after money.

Well the BM does pay taxes. Every time BM money is used to buy something PST, GST, gas, carbon or environmental taxes are being paid. In turn those businesses that take the money pay taxes themselves either to their suppliers or corporate tax and personal income tax. That money just doesn't disappear its a BIG part of the economy.

I know guys who declare part of their grow income as income when doing taxes. Obviously they don't say its from growing. I know lots of growers who used their grow money to set up successful businesses, with out that they would have not been able to do it.

CannaReview said:

I don't care which ever way it goes, to me it should be treated like any plant ie free for all, if you don't want it that way then you are after money.

Well the BM does pay taxes. Every time BM money is used to buy something PST, GST, gas, carbon or environmental taxes are being paid. In turn those businesses that take the money pay taxes themselves either to their suppliers or corporate tax and personal income tax. That money just doesn't disappear its a BIG part of the economy.

I know guys who declare part of their grow income as income when doing taxes. Obviously they don't say its from growing. I know lots of growers who used their grow money to set up successful businesses, with out that they would have not been able to do it.

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Well we know the plant will never be a 'free for all', it's not the same as any other plant. It is an intoxicant and it has medicinal properties, thus it has a value as a commodity. The black market growers wouldn't exist if it didn't. I don't stand to make a dime from legalization and as a mmj patient I grow my own so I'm not sure how I'm 'after money'. I realize growers pay taxes on supplies...but so does every other business, and they also pay business tax and income tax. The upside is they get a tax number and can claim expenses. It would be great if we could decide for ourselves which business we tax and which ones get a free ride, but that's not how it works. Using profit from an illegal business to set up a legit one because "with out that they would have not been able to do it" is called money laundering. I don't care personally, and I kinda envy the ones that did well with it, but I feel if we are going to legalize people need to go legit. Why not use the knowledge and profit they made during prohibition to build a legit career? I would think the comfort of knowing the cops aren't going to kick your door in would be worth the hassle of going legit, at least it would for me.
The other thing that I wonder about is the market for BM weed. Once everyone can grow their own, and provided the taxes are kept reasonable for retail, who are the bm grower's selling to? Normally I agree with you, but we are on opposite sides of this. It's going to be interesting to watch it play out.

VIANARCHRIS said:

So you are against legalization because you want to protect the black market and small town economy? I don't get it. Why would you not be for making the bm growers legit? They will be a benefit to the community once they start paying taxes like every other business. I'm sure the moonshiner's felt the same way when prohibition ended, but the industry survived...even with government regulations. I can see those who have made a career out of growing and selling tax free will have a tough time accepting the transition to the real world of rules and taxes, some will survive and some won't. Obviously I have never been a BM grower so I don't face the possibility of losing my income, but wanting to continue to operate illegally in order to maximize profit is no different than the LP's trying to be sole suppliers, imo. I'm not trying to start an argument, I have just never heard the argument FOR continued prohibition before and I don't get it.

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I think the cost/requirements of obtaining a license to grow pot in Canada will prevent a lot of Bm growers from becoming legal businesses. I don't think the rules will be a whole lot different than those who prevented several companies from becoming LPs. They may be able to sell small amounts and have a plant count on the smaller side of things. Remember all the good, experienced growers who were denied MMPR licences?

The greed is far from over. They are just trying to figure out on how to make it theirs and capitalize on it.
The only thing stopping them is the greed hasn't figured out a new plan yet.
I don't worry on it too much...nature will sort it out. The is no real good answer in their minds as none of the plans can make them rich.
And I love seeing that part of this whole thing.

nsbudca said:

I think the cost/requirements of obtaining a license to grow pot in Canada will prevent a lot of Bm growers from becoming legal businesses. I don't think the rules will be a whole lot different than those who prevented several companies from becoming LPs. They may be able to sell small amounts and have a plant count on the smaller side of things. Remember all the good, experienced growers who were denied MMPR licences?

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The cost/requirements of opening a coffee shop prevents people from doing that as well and you can't sell coffee from your kitchen. It takes capitol to start any business. I don't think we are going to see the kinda bullshit hoops to jump through for small rec growers as we did for LP's. The MMPR was set up for a controlled drug under the CDSA, once it's removed from that list, the rules change. Just like you could follow the steps and open a distillery or brewery, I imagine this industry will work the same. Meet health and safety regs, pay for a business license and set up shop.

nsbudca said:

I think the cost/requirements of obtaining a license to grow pot in Canada will prevent a lot of Bm growers from becoming legal businesses. I don't think the rules will be a whole lot different than those who prevented several companies from becoming LPs. They may be able to sell small amounts and have a plant count on the smaller side of things. Remember all the good, experienced growers who were denied MMPR licences?

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But also remember those licenses were for medical grade (which we know means nothing). The new licenses will be for rec and rec should be way less stringent. Any one who applies should get one.

This was Bill Blair's response to Jodie Emery's request...

Soon after federal health minister Jane Philpott said she wasn’t ruling out including members of the cannabis community from sitting on the cannabis legalization task force, MP Bill Blair seems to have done it for her.

Blair, the Liberal government’s point person on legalization, said there will be a chance for advocates to get involved, but it won’t be on the task force.

“I’ve assured those activists that their voices will be heard and they’ll have an opportunity to provide their input to the task force, but the task force is primarily focussed on the science and the evidence and the best advice of experts that we can get going forward,” Blair said in a statement from his office.

Yesterday, cannabis activist Jodie Emery sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and other cabinet members, requesting to sit on the group that will be researching cannabis before presenting Parliament with a report on regulation and legalization best practices.

Philpott had previously said she was open to representation from the cannabis community on the task force, but that the majority of its makeup would be experts in health care, addiction care, public safety and justice.

Lawyer Kirk Tousaw posted in response to Blair’s comments, arguing that activists are experts in the cannabis field and should be consulted.

“Your list of experts in traditional fields did not include experts in growing or distributing cannabis,” Tousaw wrote, in an open letter to Blair. “As this task force is supposed to guide the government in creating a system of lawful production, distribution and possession of cannabis, my respectful suggestion is that you include people with expertise in those areas.”

Tousaw said if the cannabis community doesn’t see the government imposing a fair and credible system it may fail and struggle like the current medical cannabis system, which also did not include any representatives from the medical cannabis community.

“Having listening sessions is not enough. Health Canada did that with the move to the MMPR,” Tousaw wrote. “That turned into a mess both inside and outside the courts. ‘Activists’ told HC exactly what would happen. They were right.”

A petition is also circulating to attempt to have more representation from cannabis experts on the task force, which Philpott said will be announced soon.

I sent a request to give my input or be a part of the process, as a grower and medical user, in the middle of November. Her canned response was that they the task force would be made up of health and law enforcement experts. Maybe I'll resend that request.

“I’ve assured those activists that their voices will be heard and they’ll have an opportunity to provide their input to the task force, but the task force is primarily focussed on the science and the evidence and the best advice of experts that we can get going forward,” Blair said in a statement from his office.

So translated into English -we will pay the marijuana community lip service while we decide how to fuck up the new legal framework were putting in place to only benifit the people we choose. Fuck you and fuck your opinion on how things should be. We know everything and will do as we like and you all can suck on our smelly cocks. Disobey us any we will still put you in jail like before you shitty hippys(not you specifically hippy).

ispice said:

I sent a request to give my input or be a part of the process, as a grower and medical user, in the middle of November. Her canned response was that they the task force would be made up of health and law enforcement experts. Maybe I'll resend that request.

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Good luck but nothing has changed they don't give a fuck about you, me or anyone else's opinion on how legislation should look like.

VIANARCHRIS said:

The cost/requirements of opening a coffee shop prevents people from doing that as well and you can't sell coffee from your kitchen. It takes capitol to start any business. I don't think we are going to see the kinda bullshit hoops to jump through for small rec growers as we did for LP's. The MMPR was set up for a controlled drug under the CDSA, once it's removed from that list, the rules change. Just like you could follow the steps and open a distillery or brewery, I imagine this industry will work the same. Meet health and safety regs, pay for a business license and set up shop.

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i don't think that the legal mj is going to be as liberal as some of you seem to think. i mean, i'd like it to be. But this is going to be monitored by the feds, hard. opening a coffee shop has far less regs than opening a legal mj grow.

nobody important 666 said:

But also remember those licenses were for medical grade (which we know means nothing). The new licenses will be for rec and rec should be way less stringent. Any one who applies should get one.

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i'm assuming the regs will be not much different thanmmpr. still needs testing, still needs security.