So the question is being asked to evaluate today is whether the federal government's decision with the Cannabis act to a lot Municipal and provincial governments power to actually roll out regulations in their cities and provinces rather than the federal government rolling out a blanket movement for all of Canada.
And I'm being asked to evaluate if there were any concerns when this decision was made.
Usually when we see a movement from the federal government when we see Power being shifted from the federal government to Municipal and provincial Powers. We think of it as benefiting the population because the specific actual populations that will be impacted by these laws will be more minutely regulated by their direct government leaders. So their towns or cities or provinces leaders and so they may
Have more say in how this overarching Federal ruling will play out in their day-to-day lives. And of course since our country is so big. So spread out Canadians in small towns in Alberta versus the city of Montreal or Vancouver might want very different things when it comes to cannabis regulations.
so in this way, we see a potential benefit of
the government the federal government shifting power Downstream, however, potential concerns that can arise from this in my mind surround varying levels of Education across the country regarding regarding safe cannabis use and also
Top areas of high and low accessibility to cannabis developing some illicit drug sales across provinces, which is of course, one of the reasons that cannabis was legalized to stop the illicit sale of cannabis. And so as for my first point if we see different provinces and different towns allowing the use of cannabis in different ways and educating their populations to different degrees depending on how
how for or against cannabis use they are in that region will have a population that is divided and and varied in how empowered they are to use cannabis if it should be available. So for example, if we're educating our youth differently and then we see a large population of 17 or 18 year olds heading off to University from A Place With No Education about cannabis to a place with high use of cannabis and in the high school system higher education rates as
Regarding the use of the substance in the potential risks. Then we'll have a lot of uninformed and unequipped ill-equipped youth suddenly having access to cannabis without the knowledge to use it safely. For example knowledge of the dangers of driving under the influence of cannabis or of the mixing of cannabis with a history of severe mental illness in the family.
As well as just general feelings that may arise when using a substance and so we disadvantaging some of our populations should cannabis become accessible to them as they travel to different places in our country.
And then the second point that I made was about.
Illicit selling of cannabis. Let's say we have two provinces side by side BC and Alberta and in Alberta canvas is heavily restricted and NBC. There's High accessibility High regulation and higher education about cannabis will be could start to see is people buying cannabis. It's easily accessible in BC and funneling it to Alberta legally to make a profit.
And again tied to my first point in a region where perhaps education about the safe use of the substances and hi.
This is counter to what the Canadian government was aiming for with the legalization of cannabis which in part was to reduce unregulated illicit selling of the substance. And so these two concerns are go hand-in-hand and put our population at varied risk to safe use of the substance and
For those reasons, I think a mixture of federal jurisdiction education. Let's say and general accessibility within smaller roles being played by Municipal and provincial governments would be the most optimal way to roll out the legalization of cannabis.