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Put aside the activist lever of “medical-use marijuana” for a moment. There is a very large group of people in Canada who want to get high. Research shows that they want to do things like: relax and drift off to sleep, get high and watch a movie, get stoned and have sex. And, it’s going to be OK. There is not a public health crisis currently around cannabis and there is virtually no indication that there is going to be one going forward.

In the same interview, McLellan says about the task force: “… we are not in the business of promoting commercialization.” The new legislation reflects this with ambiguous stabs at inhibiting, but not prohibiting, marketing activity. The proposed regulations allow for “informational” or “brand-preference” promotion “by means of a telecommunication,” where “reasonable steps” have been taken to ensure that the “promotion cannot be accessed by a young person.” I think that’s an email or something similar.

However, advertising techniques that are suspected of being unduly influential are specifically prohibited: price, testimonials, characters or animals, positive or negative lifestyle images. So, is an online ad of a sunset with a brand logo that is emailed an adult “allowable”? Who knows? We will find out.

The problem with invoking tobacco-like advertising restrictions is that the major tobacco companies radically self-censor. Given their history, profitability and the severity of the penalties described by the Tobacco Act, they attempt very little promotion and go to great lengths to comply. There are virtually no cases that flirt with the regulations and define what is practically acceptable. That won’t be the case with the hundreds of marijuana start-ups in the process today.