00:00

Well what we're asking is for the regulatory framework on tobacco to be very similar to the one that the Government is considering for marijuana. Right now you have two bills that are in the House of Commons one dealing with tobacco regulation one dealing with marijuana. And when you compare both what you're seeing is that the government is adopting or proposing to adopt a very more flexible framework for marijuana than it is for tobacco and as an example a couple of examples from one of the government is saying that the packaging of marijuana products should not be appealing to youth while for tobacco . The bill that is in front of the House of Commons says that we need plain packaging the right despite the fact that we already have a 75 percent health warning on several cigarette packs and the fact that the packs are hidden from public view on excise the Government said that it's important that taxes on marijuana is not too high in order to be able for manufacturers to compete with illegal traffickers. We've been saying this for years . However taxation on tobacco products is clearly 80 percent which created an illegal market in the country which is about 20 to 25 percent of the market. And maybe a last example is right now the government has a public consultation where they're considering increasing the age of smoking on cigarettes to 21 while they already said that marijuana smoking will be 18. So the only thing we're asking is for the Health Minister to clarify it and explain the discrepancies between the both both approaches so we we just saw images of of what tobacco packaging looks like and it is so dominated by the health warnings. Is are you looking for the same standard to be applied to marijuana. Would you be content for it for the standard for tobacco to be relaxed or wherever marijuana ends up what are you looking for in the entire well the marijuana manufacturers are saying that in order for them to be able to compete with illegal traffickers they need to have the ability to have their brands on the product. Otherwise it's gonna be very easy for illegal manufacturers to compete and to copy those brands. And it's the same thing for us. Like I said you already have 20 to 25 percent of the market that is legal. If you remove the ability for relief for legal manufacturers to have a trademark on the product it becomes very easy for illegal traffickers just to copy those those brands . And then we'll be stuck with a counterfeit issue. So the proposal by the government to lead the brands for marijuana I think is the right one but we don't understand why if if it's if that approach is good to protect you from right want to smoking why isn't it good enough also to protect you from smoking cigarettes. And I think the answer to that is because in Canada we're stuck with a very small but vocal group of anti tobacco lobbyists and they're the one who's been advocating for plain packaging in this country for more than a decade. And it appears that the government is just leaning in and giving them what they want you know we're sort of in a strange time here and there is there in some sectors anyways excitement about the legalization of marijuana. Tobacco is the established product is the incumbent product is the product that has lobbyists lining up against it . In some cases is is there a lack of perspective in terms of a level playing field that you see. Well listen I'm not here to say it's marijuana should be legalized or not. I mean that's not my role or my place to say what I'm saying is if the government's intent what they said is the reason they want to legalize marijuana is twofold is to protect youth and is also to take it out of the hands of criminal organizations. And what you're seeing is that in order for the government to do that they are proposing a regulatory framework that seems to be very reasonable that will allow the legal operators to operate and not allow the illegal traffickers to keep the market. However when you look at what's happening with tobacco in Canada it's a totally different approach. The government said that prohibition doesn't work and that's why they are legalizing marijuana. On the other hand they seem to approach tobacco through prohibition and that's where the discrepancies are. And this is why we're asking the Health Minister to clarify Eric final question is did you see this as a competitor would do . To what extent do you have a bias in this in terms of them coming in and taking money that might otherwise go to tobacco products . Doesn't think there's already more people smoke smoking marijuana in Canada today. The latest stat stats from our health Ganis is that 17 percent of youth are smoking marijuana and only 3 percent or smoking cigarettes. So it's not about competing I think what we've seen the US and some of the reports we're reading is it probably a more a competitor for alcohol industry than than tobacco. But I think we can agree that both products have a ah have a or harmful. There's some important health risk associated with smoking cigarettes and we support reasonable and evidence based regulation especially the ones aimed at keeping the tobacco out of the hands of kids but at the end of the day we will support reasonable and evidence based regulation and not excessive regulation that will not achieve any of the public health objectives .