Reform in Canada Pretense & Perils

Preface
Cannabis law reform will almost certainly be the prominent drug policy issue of the next
decade in Canada. This is despite having formidable competition from our more
established legal drug industries. Tobacco use continues to account for just about all
drug-related deaths in Canada. Alcohol accounts for more illness and injury than any
other drug. There is increasing research evidence on its adverse health impact, even at
levels of consumption that have traditionally been considered quite low. Widespread
social disruption related to the use of the drug continues unabated. Aggressive and
improper promotional practices within the pharmaceutical industry, coupled with illadvised
and reckless prescribing practices, were major contributors towards an
epidemic of opioid-related deaths that was sweeping across North America as this
report was being written. Permissive and ineffective government regulation of drug
industries has contributed to all of these scourges.
The perennial high levels of harm associated with either alcohol or tobacco or with the
current opioid epidemic would be a worthy candidate for government and public health
attention as the drug policy issue of the next decade. There could be justified debate
about whether cannabis law reform should hold this dubious distinction. But there are
indications that it will.
Over three million Canadians are current cannabis users. Many of them have been
waiting a long time for the freedom to do so without the ever-present threat of arrest and
a criminal record. Also, an upstart drug industry stands eager to make the enormously
lucrative transition from serving a contained medical market to an expansive
recreational one. The broader entrepreneurial community has been electrified with
anticipated spin-off opportunities. A posting on Yahoo in late December 2016 blurted
out: “If you don’t invest in marijuana right now, you’ll regret it the rest of your life.”
Whether sound investment advice or opportunistic hucksterism, the headline is unlikely
to go unheeded, given the issue’s omnipresence in the media.
Organizations with a public health policy mandate, wary of the individual harms and
societal burden imposed by our existing legal drug industries, have been actively
engaged in the discussions of cannabis law reform, fueled and supported by an
inquisitive media. The Canadian Government’s Task Force on Cannabis Legalization
and Regulation claims to have received approximately thirty thousand submissions
during its two-month consultation period during the summer of 2016. Cannabis has our
attention and our attention will remain fixated upon the emergence of this new drug
industry and upon its impact on life in Canada.
But there is much to learn from the conduct and consequences of our other legal drug
industries, as there is much to learn from our attempts to effectively regulate these
industries. Our regulatory mechanisms have not performed well in protecting the
public’s health and safety from the indiscriminate pursuit of revenue by these industries.
Only somewhat tangentially, it is worth mentioning that similar conduct and regulatory
failures could also be cited for the gambling, electronic entertainment, and food
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