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The justification the government has offered is that criminal sanctions are needed to stop youth from possessing marijuana, which Spratt said discounts “the last 100 years of learned experience that complete criminalization hasn’t discouraged youth. It’s blind fancy to think partial criminalization will.”

The Senate’s social affairs committee passed an amendment in late May that could make its way into the final law. It adds to exceptions to the law against giving pot to minors. The changes would exempt someone who is 18 years of age or older “and less than two years older than the individual to whom they distribute the cannabis.” It would also protect a parent or guardian who gives pot to a chid who is at least 16 but only in their home.

The amendments, if passed, don’t completely eliminate Spratt’s concerns. There could still be situations where the proposed criminalization of pot “could lead to unjust outcomes,” he said. “But it does make a very poorly drafted section of the bill better.”

He insisted that the best way to protect young people is through education and harm reduction, not onerous laws and arbitrary prison sentences that can have “monumental” lifelong consequences. For example, anyone travelling to the U.S. with a drug conviction would likely be turned away at the border. “On the other hand, I’ve got clients who have manslaughter convictions that make it through, no problem,” Spratt said.

Nadelmann said that as a parent, “I’m aware and care deeply around the issue of kids. When we hear the stuff about the dangers to the adolescent brain, I’m paying attention, I’m looking at that research.” The Canadian Paediatric Society, among others, has warned the human brain continues to develop into a person’s 20s and that the developing brain “is especially sensitive to the negative consequences of cannabis use.” Some studies have documented structural changes in the brains of youth who use marijuana regularly, and the heavier the use, the greater appear the risks.

But more than 100 million people in North America have reported using cannabis, Nadelmann noted. In U.S. jurisdictions with now open recreational pot markets, there appears little, if any increase in adolescent use. In Colorado, the first state to legalize recreational weed in 2014, pot use among teens aged 12 to 17 fell to its lowest level last year in a decade.

“We need to make sure that as this industry emerges that we’re being thoughtful about it,” Nadelmann said. “It means not being driven by the rhetoric.”

National Post

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