One thought on “Eliminating some of the mystery surrounding pot dispensaries | Your Morning”

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   Iskra Suah says:

   Ok, first off, what a shitty explanation, and secondly stop acting like this isn't a corporate circle jerk.

   Due to the decision of Parker v Canada, Canadians with an official diagnosis of a medical condition, listed as treated by Canada, are exempt to the CDSA in terms of possession. It is their Charter right to use cannabis as medicine. However, the only way to access a "legal supply" is to go through the federal medicinal program (Formerly MMAR, MMPR, and now ACMPR). But, here is where the problem arises. Patients with a valid and legal reason to join the program are often unable to access the program and thus, the whole reasonable access clause wasn't met by the federal program. This is exactly why the federal program has been deemed unconstitutional several times. And this is why several court cases have deemed "Dispensaries serve a valid purpose of access". And this is why most of the time, dispensary owners are granted acquittals. For fuck sakes, be truthful!!!

   And furthermore, here is what is exactly happening; The government has sided with million dollar corporations to control the entire market, while they criminalize the very people that fought for an end to prohibition. Not one of these LPs profiteers has ever donated to end prohibition, but now they reap all the benefits. And worst off, most were once prohibitionist looking up (and continue to advocate for) the continued arrest of activist in the cannabis community.

   Anne McLellan, is the head of the task force. She once called cannabis a “scourge”, a word synonymous with afflictions and plagues, and was against the medical use of cannabis. McLellan also once stated that a “Liberal Government would never be in the business of legalizing marijuana”, and wanted judges who refused to give tough penalties to cannabis offences to explain their reasoning to her. She had also stated that “we do not want Canadians to use marijuana” and essentially instructed staff to obstruct the processing of Canadians trying to access cannabis to relieve pain.

   She also serves as Senior Advisor to Bennett Jones Law Firm. Bennett Jones is a powerful law firm with influential ties to Parliament. The law firm also represents licensed producers (LPs) of the federal medical cannabis system, the ACMPR (formerly the MMPR).

   The Bay Street law firm (Bennett Jones) partner Hugo Alves stated in the January 25th 2015 edition of a Toronto Star article that “his firm wanted to be the go-to advisors for licensed producers” and heavily advocated for the MMPR (Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations) system because it opened the door for commercial lawyers to enter the cannabis industry. The MMPR system replaced the MMAR (Medical Marihuana Access Regulations), a system which stripped patients of their right to grow, forcing them to purchase from licensed producers.

   The task force will generally decide who will supply the cannabis to the recreational market.

   Eric Nash of Island Harvest, had attended a stakeholders meeting in 2004 (nine years before the MMPR system was in place), where Health Canada officials revealed their plans to revoke patients grow-licenses and replace it with a system of mega corporation licensed producers.

   So fuck you when you call dispensary owners "Drug dealers with an address", and fuck off with that bullshit that there is no "grey area", we have the CDSA, all the amendments to it for medical users due to court challenges on the MMAR/MMPR and rulings, as well as protections under the Charter.