What are the limits and protections embedded in Canada's new marijuana laws?
In the final days before Canada legalizes cannabis, various groups and organizations are working hard to hammer out last minute policies, guidelines, and rules. Most recently, this includes the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC).
Yesterday, the group released an updated policy. The document clarifies key points about when, where, and how people can or cannot consume legal cannabis. In particular, the new policy focuses on cannabis in the context of workplace and housing rules.
The new policies attempt to more clearly delineate the extent to which legal cannabis consumption is a human right. As such, the OHRC’s directions focus a lot on questions related to medical marijuana, chronic health conditions, disability, and addiction.
Here are some of the key guidelines to come from the OHRC. These guidelines aim to establish precedent for cannabis rules in Ontario:
In general, most of the above guidelines are designed to protect cannabis consumers. But the OHRC didn’t give consumers—whether medical marijuana patients or recreational consumers—a free-for-all pass.
The group also published guidelines for when and where people might not be able to consume weed. Here are some of the key instances when there might be allowable restrictions on consumption:
All of these guidelines come as Canada prepares for full-scale legalization next week. October 17 is still the date on which the country is expected to begin national legalization.
Throughout the year, various political agencies and organizations have been working to fine-tune cannabis-related rules. This includes local governments, which will still have the power to set some of their own restrictions and regulations. It also includes groups like the OHRC.
“The legalization of cannabis is a new reality in Ontario,” OHRC Chief Commissioner Renu Mandhane said in an official press release. “But while cannabis laws are changing, this policy statement reminds us that human rights protections for people with disabilities or addictions are the same.”
If signed into law, the Louisiana bill would establish a regulatory framework for recreational cannabis,…
The DEA is challenging an attempt by a Seattle physician to give psilocybin to terminally…
There's just a false sense of security related to the federal government to worry about.
A trend is emerging among poultry farmers who are converting operations to industrial hemp farms.
I was once angry. But weed helped. Then, weed kinda made me angry again.
Employees at Cresco in Massachusetts were among the first in the U.S. to exit organized…