High Time

The Legalization and Regulation of Cannabis in Canada

Edited by Andrew Potter and Daniel M. Weinstock

Published for the McGill Institute for Health and Social Policy

Law, Political Science & International Studies: Public Policy: Canada, Political Science & International Studies: Political Science: Canada

eBook Available

Email Print Add to Wishlist

Overview
Reviews
Author Bio
Table of Contents
More by Author...
Related Links

It took Canada fifty years to reform its marijuana laws. Did it get them right?

Canada has 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.

Details

240 Pages, 6 x 9

ISBN 9780773556416

March 2019

Formats: Cloth, Paperback, eBook

“It’s high time to think beyond basic legalization, and this book provides a strong foundation for future considerations.” Montreal Review of Books

Andrew Potter is assistant professor at the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada.

Daniel Weinstock is professor in the McGill Faculty of Law, and from 2013 to 2018, he was the director of McGill's Institute for Health and Social Policy.

Introduction / 3
Andrew Potter and Daniel Weinstock

PART ONE: POLITICS

1 In Praise of Political Opportunism, or, How to Change a Policy in Only Fifty Years / 9
Andrew Potter

2 Legalized Cannabis in Canada: Federalism, Policy, and Politics / 22
Malcolm G. Bird

3 Cannabis Legalization and Colonial Legacies / 35
Jared J. Wesley

4 Cannabis and Conflict of Interest: Is It Wrong for Public Officials to Profit from the Legalization of Cannabis? / 50
Chris MacDonald

PART TWO: PUBLIC HEALTH

5 Will Legalization Protect Our Kids? / 67
Daniel Weinstock

6 Legalize It (But Don’t Advertise It): The Public Health Case for Cannabis Legalization / 79
Jean-François Crépault

PART THREE: LAW

7 Is Legalization a War on Drugs by the Back Door? / 99
Jacob Stilman

8 Unequal Justice: Race and Cannabis Arrests in the Post-Legal Landscape / 114
Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, Alex Luscombe, and Brandon M. Finlay

9 What Jurisdiction for Harm Reduction: Cannabis Policy Reform under Canadian Federalism / 132
Alana Klein

PART FOUR: ECONOMICS AND TAXATION

10 Technology, Black Markets, and Retail Marijuana / 151
Anindya Sen and Rosalie Wyonch

11 The Legalization of Marijuana and the Remembrance of Things Past / 165
Stephen T. Easton

12 Cannabis Legalization: Lessons from Alcohol, Tobacco, and Pharmaceutical Industries / 182
Michael DeVillaer

PART FIVE: THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT

13 Cannabis Legalization Is the Inconvenient Test of Canada’s Commitment to the Rule of International Law and a Rules-Based World Order / 205
Roojin Habibi and Steven J. Hoffman

14 The Portuguese Experience with Decriminalization / 218
João Castel-Branco Goulão

Acknowledgments / 231
Contributors / 233