When dinosaurs still roamed the earth and I was a young reporter, I covered criminal trials in which convicted people were sent to prison for possessing marijuana.
The longest terms were for possession of pot for the purpose of selling it – trafficking.
The decriminalization of "cannabis" (the politically-correct word; pot is still pot) in Canada is a triumph of the free market – the black market.
The illicit growth and sale of recreational marijuana reached such volumes that government-regulated and taxed growing, processing and retailing became a solution to controlling it.
The federal law will be that the possession of 30 grams or less of recreational cannabis will be legal. As will be growing up to four marijuana plants in a private home.
The province will regulate retail sales, and on Feb. 16, Justice Minister Karen Ganley and the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission released the rules for cannabis retail sales.
The rules and regulations are explained in detail on the AGLC website. Go to aglc.ca and follow the "cannabis" link. Here are the highlights:
The AGLC will buy product from producers licensed by Health Canada, tax it and distribute it to retail shops in Alberta.
There will be regulated online sales.
The number of retail store licences issued will be initially capped at 250 but is expected to increase to about 500. No corporation or entity can own more than 15 per cent of the locations.
A retailer must meet stringent financial capability tests and pass criminal background checks.
There will be a setback of 100 metres between a store and schools and health-care facilities.
The stores will be required to have security such as surveillance cameras and alarms, staff must pass an AGLC cannabis safe-sales course similar to the one required for liquor store employees, and business hours will be from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m.
No one under 18 can enter these stores even if accompanied by an adult.
At the news conference Ganley said, "these regulations focus on keeping our communities safe, while protecting public health and promoting safety on roads, in workplaces and in public spaces. They'll help keep cannabis out of the hands of youth, while ensuring consumers have access to safe products no matter where they live."
Well, Minister Ganley, you can make promises, but can you keep them?
Municipalities can only make cannabis store zoning conditions and issue business licences.
Ganley said that a municipality that doesn't want cannabis retail shops could increase the setbacks to include the entire community.
Some people will lose money investing in retail cannabis, as some did when liquor sales were privatized.
In Canada, governments aren't good at adjudicating moral issues so they avoid them and the morality of cannabis legalization hasn't been addressed.
Moral living involves choices, and tens of millions of eroding choices have been made in the past 45 years between jail sentences for recreational pot crimes to legal retail sales.
Until 1922, recreational consumption of cocaine was legal in Canada.
Courts now send people to jail for possessing or peddling it.
What will the consequences be for recreational cocaine use in another 100 years?
- Frank Dabbs is a veteran journalist, writer and author.
