By Adriana Christianson

‘High time’ for Liberals to legalize marijuana: Regina shop

Oct 21, 2015 | 11:58 AM

Employees at the Head 2 Head Novelties shop in Regina have high hopes for Justin Trudeau’s promise to legalize marijuana.
 
Donovan Hastings works there as an advisor for the Green Canvas,which is listed as an amusement and recreation company.
 
“We were really excited once Trudeau decided that he was going to plan on legalizing marijuana,” he said.
 
The Liberal Party has campaigned on a promise to legalize and tax marijuana and to regulate it to stop minors from getting easier access to the drug. The party’s platform suggests the next move would be developing a task force with experts in the fields of public health, substance abuse and law enforcement to develop a taxation system.
 
Hastings explained that the Green Canvas works with a lot of customers who have trouble getting prescriptions and accessing medical marijuana due to current regulations.
 
“We help medical patients find doctors and we also help them decide on different courses of medications, whether it be capsules or smoking, or whatever it would be,” he said.
 
He says the biggest problem with the current system is the struggle to access medical marijuana even with a prescription. That’s why he is looking forward to a Liberal platform to legalize it.
 
“All of our customers are medical. They all have licenses from the doctors. We don’t have anybody coming here for recreational use,” Hastings said. “It’s not advising somebody on how to go out and enjoy a party properly as opposed to how to medicate so you can sleep and eat and survive, basically, and have a decent quality of life. That’s our number one concern here is that everybody has a decent quality of life.”
 
He hopes the new Liberal majority government can move to legalize marijuana within two years. He says the platform calls for regulation and tax
 
“I think it’ll take time, I hope it’ll go through. I’m not sure that we’re going to see it in the next couple of months unfortunately, but I think it’s coming and it’s high time that it’s here,” he said.

Hastings admits it’s hard to predict what will happen in the coming years, but he hopes to see the kind of model introduced by states like Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Ohio.

 Email achristianson@cjme.com
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