The minister has asked for an additional delay before the legalization of marijuana

Archival Photo Simon Clark
The minister Lucie Charlebois

Patrick Bellerose

Thursday, 24 August, 2017 18:40

UPDATE
Thursday, 24 August, 2017 18:48

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The minister Lucie Charlebois has called on Ottawa to postpone the entry into force of the legalization of marijuana, to be held in July 2018, to allow Québec to better prepare.

• READ ALSO: marijuana on the campus: the University of Laval calls for clear guidelines
• READ ALSO: psychiatrists concerned about the legalization of cannabis

The responsible of the folder in Quebec has addressed the issue in mid-June with the minister of federal Health, Jane Philpott, on the sidelines of the announcement of the opening of three centres of supervised injection in Montreal.

“I talked with mrs Philpott and it does not seem to be opening at this level,” said Thursday the minister responsible for public Health in the margins of the regional Consultation on the structuring of the cannabis, which came to Quebec.

The minister had missed the information a little earlier during the hearing of the merchants ‘ Association convenience stores and grocers in Quebec, which was suggested to ask for an extension. “It is done, it is no,” she replied with a smile.

The office of the minister Charlebois, it is argued that it was a simple conversation between parliamentarians and not a “formal request” of Quebec.

Tight deadline

Lucie Charlebois, has also refused to specify what additional period of time, Quebec would have liked to get. “I have asked for a postponement, I have not asked for specific period of time,” said the minister.

Even if it ensures that Quebec will be ready, Lucie Charlebois agrees that the deadlines will be tight if the government Couillard decided to create his own distribution network. “This would be a lot of work,” she says. Is this is possible? When you put your mind to, you can do anything.”

Pot on campus

Furthermore, the Association des médecins psychiatres du Québec said in a press conference that Québec is reluctant to prohibit the consumption of marijuana on the campuses of the province.

“Cannabis is psychosis what gasoline is to fire camp, has launched the Dr. Marc-André Roy, a clinician-scientist at Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec. The minister [Helen David] is said to be ambivalent, so why she would not come to spend a day in the er with us?”

For its part, the Université Laval has no objection to the consumption on its premises, but requires clear guidelines and wishes to be able to impose additional restrictions to what is already provided for in the act.

– With the collaboration of Pierre-Paul Biron and Daphnée Dion-Viens