High time : the legalization and regulation of cannabis in Canada / edited by Andrew Potter and Daniel Weinstock.

Includes bibliographies and index.

Canada will become the first G7 country to legalize cannabis, and the world is watching. The primary concern facing the Liberal government as it seeks to fulfill its 2015 campaign promise to "legalize, regulate, and restrict access to marijuana" is whether it can be done without making the situation worse. As the Liberal platform pointed out, the current regime lets illegal cannabis fall into the hands of minors, pours large profits into organized crime, and traps many people in the criminal justice system for what is arguably a victimless crime. While the legalization of marijuana in Canada begins with a straightforward change of the criminal code, its ramifications go far beyond this. Legalization will have a serious impact on the country's international treaty commitments, interprovincial relations, taxation and regulatory regimes, and social and health policies. The essays in this book address these outcomes from three main perspectives: the decades-long political path to legalization; the assumptions that underwrite the new policy, in particular the desire to stamp out the black market; and how legalization in Canada looks in an international context. Bringing together analysis by policy makers and scholars, including the architect of marijuana legislation in Portugal - a trailblazing jurisdiction - High Time provides an urgent and necessary overview of Canada's Cannabis Act.

In praise of political opportunism / Andrew Potter -- Cannabis legalization : preliminary political and policy concerns / Malcolm Bird -- Same as it ever was : how Ottawa's approach to marijuana has replicated the colonialist approach to regulating tobacco and alcohol / Jared Wesley -- Cannabis and conflict of interest : is it wrong for former public officials to profit from legalization? / Chris Macdonald -- Will age limits on the legal sale of marijuana really protect our kids? / Daniel Weinstock -- The public health case for cannabis legalization / JF Crepault -- Is legalization a war on drugs by the back door? / Jacob Stillman -- Unequal justice : race and cannabis arrests in the post-legal landscape / Akwasi Owusu-Bempah -- Paths of least jurisdictional resistance : federalism and missed opportunities for public health/harm reduction approaches to cannabis legalization / Alana Klein -- How should we tax cannabis in Canada? / Anindya Sen -- How legalization won't eliminate the black market / Stephen Easton -- Lessons from prohibition for marijuana legalization / Stephen Devillaer -- Cannabis and international law -- barriers and opportunities / Roojin Habibi -- The Portuguese experience with decriminalization / João Castel-Branco Goulão.

COPYRIGHT NOT covered - Click this link to request copyright permission:

https://lib.ciu.edu/copyright-request-form