General Canada's House of Commons votes to legalize marijuana

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megatherium

el rey del mambo
First 100
Jan 15, 2015
8,798
11,164
And of course this is far from a comprehensive list of former prohibitionist cops and politicians who have suddenly found religion and done a potential very lucrative 180 on the pot legalization issue. If you can't beat em, then beat em down and steal all their stuff eh ;)


The ex cops, politicians and friends of Bill Blair cashing in on legal weed

CHUCK RIFICI
Former CFO of the Liberal Party of Canada and a founder and former CEO of Canopy Growth Corp. and Tweed Marijuana Inc., the country’s largest licensed producer. Made a killing when Canopy took over Tweed. He's reportedly still a shareholder. Currently, CEO at Nesta Holding Company, “the premiere partner for companies within the cannabis space.”

Potential conflict of interest As the former overseer of the finances of the federal Liberal Party, Rifici's connections to money bags contributors in the party run far and deep. No doubt he's turning a few of them on to the big bucks to be made in the business of weed.

MARK ZEKULIN
President of Canopy Growth (also the company's legal counsel) and former senior adviser to ex-Ontario finance minister Dwight Duncan.

Potential conflict of interest Zekulin's resumé includes a gig as senior policy manager for the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Boasts "high-profile local and international corporate clients" as counsel at the Ottawa-Washington international trade law firm of Cassidy Levy Kent.

NORMAN INKSTER
Former head of the RCMP and Independent Director at Mettrum Health Corp, which was acquired by Canopy Growth on January 31, 2017.

Potential conflict of interest Cop and corporate connections. Inkster is a member of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and the International Association of Chiefs of Police. And served as a member of Investment Advisory Committee of Bay Street investment firm Westerkirk Capital Inc.until 2005.

Lobbied his old boss Bill Blair, the government’s point person on legalization file, on behalf of marijuana facility THC Meds Ontario Inc. earlier this year to “get rid of goons" in the budding industry. Was part of the regime when he was a cop in Toronto that enforced a zero tolerance policy on pot. Also, see George Smitherman below.

GEORGE SMITHERMAN
Former Minister of Health is an investor and director of licensed producer THC Meds Ontario.

Potential conflict of interest Smitherman has announced he’s re-entering politics and running for Pam McConnell’s city council seat this fall.

ERNIE EVES
Former Ontario PC leader and premier.

Potential conflict of interest Eves has been conspicuous by his absence in news around Timeless Herbal Care, a Jamaican medical marijuana company he joined as chair in 2015 and which has just inked a deal as one of three licencees approved to grow marijuana in Jamaica.

JULIAN FANTINO
Former Conservative MP, OPP commissioner and Toronto police chief, is pushing pot as executive chair of Aleafia Inc., a Vaughan-based referral clinic. The company recently entered into a $20 million financing agreement with Canabo Medical Inc, Canada’s largest physician led referral-only clinics for medical cannabis.

Potential conflict of interest After spending a career pushing reefer madness – Fantino once likened decriminalizing marijuana to murder – the former Toronto chief says he's turned over a new leaf. It also just so happens that the director of communications at Canopy, the largest licensed marijuana producer in the country, is also a former underling of Fantino's at Veterans Affairs.

RAF SOUCCAR
Former undercover drug officer and RCMP deputy commissioner – and current president and CEO of Aleafia Inc.

Potential conflict of interest Served on the PM’s task force on marijuana. Close relationships in the RCMP with the organized crimes squads (biker, etc..) doing the major grow-op busts.

JOSHUA TEPPER
President of Health Quality Ontario, which guides health policy in the province.

Potential conflict of interest Was listed as an independent advisor to Mettrum Ltd. between 2014 and 2016 while he served as HQO head.

JOHN REYNOLDS
Former Reform and Canadian Alliance MP.

Potential conflict of interest Currently an advisor to Canada and U.S.-based medical and recreational marijuana business Vodis Pharmaceuticals Inc. Says he's never smoked pot and doesn't want to, which should tell you all you need to know about why he's shilling for Big Pharma.

SENATOR LARRY CAMPBELL
Former RCMP officer and Vancouver mayor, independent senator.

Potential conflict of interest An advisor to Vodis. Has declared that's not a conflict, even though he's a sitting senator, an we all know how loosey-goosey members of the upper chamber can be about questions of ethics.

MIKE HARCOURT
Former BC premier and mayor of Vancouver.

Potential conflict of interest Current chair of B.C-based start up True Leaf Medicine Inc. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently approved a share offering that will allow the company to crowdfund up to $10 million.

HERB DHALIWAL
Former Vancouver MP and federal cabinet minister.

Potential conflict of interest Currently chair of NG BioMed. The company donated $1 million to UBC last April to study the therapeutic benefits of pot as it awaits approval of its application to become a licensed producer of medicinal marijuana.

KASH HEED
Former BC solicitor general and former chief constable of West Vancouver police department. Headed up drug squad with Vancouver Police Department.

Potential conflict of interest Elected Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2009. He was forced to resign a year later following an RCMP investigation into unspecified violations of the Elections Act. A consultant for various medpot companies setting up on the Lower B.C. mainland.

CAM BATTLEY
Former legislative assistant to Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs back in the early 90s. Former director of communications for Eli Lilly and Company in Canada. The pharmaceutical giant's U.S. parent developed one of the first marijuana-based drugs approved for nausea and vomiting in cancer patients from chemotherapy.

Potential conflict of interest Recently appointed chief corporate officer for Aurora Cannabis, which just acquired CanniMed Therapeutics Inc. CanniMed is a sister company of the the country's first licensed medpot producer, Prairie Plant Systems Inc., the government's sole medical marijuana supplier for 13 years.

NEIL BELOT
Chief business development officer for Aurora Cannabis Inc.

Potential conflict of interest Former public servant in several ministries within the Ontario government.

JAKE RYAN
Former RCMP Intelligence Officer and federal criminal investigator.

Potential conflict of interest Currently director of security for B.C.-based supplier Tilray.

BARRY DANIEL
Former Abbotsford police chief.

Potential conflict of interest Current advisor to B.C.-based Wildflower Marijuana Inc.

With files from various published sources.
 

megatherium

el rey del mambo
First 100
Jan 15, 2015
8,798
11,164
Anytime there's a frantic feeding frenzy at the through things can get a little ugly.

As Vancouver Kingsway's Don Davies said in his parliamentary address posted above, you have to admire their moral flexibilirty ;)

I can just hear it now, 'dude, you realize you're smoking cop weed.That's not the dank.'

Too bad they couldn't call their top shelf indica The Baconator lol.

Julian Fantino and Raf Souccar launch medical marijuana-related business in Vaughan | CBC News


Former police chief who once said legalizing pot was like legalizing murder launching weed-related company.

Eight months before recreational marijuana is set to be legalized in Canada, two former high-ranking police officers have launched a new company that connects patients with medical pot.

Former OPP commissioner, MP and federal Conservative cabinet minister Julian Fantino and former RCMP deputy commissioner Raf Souccar officially launched their new business on Tuesday. They welcomed media to their first clinic, a storefront tucked into a strip mall in Vaughan.

Both men spent decades battling illegal drug use in their law enforcement careers, with Fantino going as far as equating legalizing marijuana to legalizing murder while serving as Toronto's chief of police in 2004.

The duo had a change of heart after being "persuaded by the science and by real life stories," Souccar said.

Aleafia Total Health Network, as the business is called, will connect patients to the "most effective product" for them and will work with universities and producers to research medical applications of the drug, according to the website.

The key word there is connect. Aleafia, which already has hundreds of patients, according to a media spokesperson, will not actually have any marijuana on the company's premises.

"The purpose of the clinic is to do the assessments," and provide complementary treatments like physiotherapy, said Fantino on Tuesday. "We're not in the marijuana business. We're a health delivery system.

After being assessed, patients can go to "whatever licensed provider they choose" to buy weed, he said.

Fantino, who took a notoriously hard line against marijuana legalization in his past roles, and Souccar, who served as member of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's marijuana legalization task force, have faced some criticism for their new venture.

British Columbia MP Don Davies, who serves as the federal NDP health critic, told CBC Toronto that Souccar's new business created the appearance of a conflict of interest.

"The optics of task force members, within a short period of time of their task force duties, going into that very business for personal profit… I think it's problematic," said Davies, arguing that there should be a required "cooling off" period after advising on policy in the future.

Souccar said his previous impression of medical marijuana users were that they wanted to use cannabis and used medical reasons as a "guise," but after meeting them, found that he "could not have been more wrong."

Fantino's about-face on marijuana came, he said, during his time as Minister for Veterans Affairs, when he met veterans suffering from issues like post-traumatic stress disorder.

"Days gone by, we all had a certain attitude," he said on Tuesday, explaining that veterans "came and lobbied me to enable them to access medical marijuana as a substitute to opioids" and that he was swayed after going on a "fact-finding mission" of his own.

Fantino said Aleafia doctors will not prescribe opioids. The company aims to be "part of the solution" to a rising tide of opioid dependency, Souccar added.

"We launched with the aim to counter Canada's growing number of opioid users," he said.

Both men also say they now support legalized recreational marijuana use with conditions, and that they would both use marijuana if prescribed it by a doctor.
 

megatherium

el rey del mambo
First 100
Jan 15, 2015
8,798
11,164
LOL hilarious

that lady in the Giant 19 foot tall chair....ehhh wut?

this is how humans make decisions and laws

truth is stranger than fiction
I'm actually hoping a couple of my fellow Canadians here that care about this issue give that a listen because Don Davies is the only Canadian politician that is speaking the truth about what is going on here with Trudeau's 'legalization'.
 

Banchan

The Most Dangerous Dame
Oct 2, 2017
4,515
2,905
I have no interest in it but cool. Less government meddling the better.
 

Banchan

The Most Dangerous Dame
Oct 2, 2017
4,515
2,905
Anytime there's a frantic feeding frenzy at the through things can get a little ugly.

As Vancouver Kingsway's Don Davies said in his parliamentary address posted above, you have to admire their moral flexibilirty ;)

I can just hear it now, 'dude, you realize you're smoking cop weed.That's not the dank.'

Too bad they couldn't call their top shelf indica The Baconator lol.
Waiting for bootlickers to defend these guys. Fantino got hella rich putting these very people in jail. I hope people see he's disingenuous and his venture tanks.
 

Banchan

The Most Dangerous Dame
Oct 2, 2017
4,515
2,905
And of course this is far from a comprehensive list of former prohibitionist cops and politicians who have suddenly found religion and done a potential very lucrative 180 on the pot legalization issue. If you can't beat em, then beat em down and steal all their stuff eh ;)
Uuuuugh! I think the legal stuff is going to be very expensive so there will always be an illegal trade. And all their political and cop buddies pushing hard to punish weed that doesn't go through them. Disgusting.
 

Ted Williams' head

It's freezing in here!
Sep 23, 2015
11,283
19,102
I have no interest in it but cool. Less government meddling the better.
Maybe this is just the pessimist in me, but from everything I've heard it sounds like there's going to be much more government meddling.

It would be great if they just said "okay pot is legal now, do what you want but don't sell to kids and don't drive high". But there are such strict rules I just see more police and court resources being applied to this. The cops now have the authority to enter a marijuana dispensary without warrant and search the place. It seems like this will be a cluster fuck.
 

Ted Williams' head

It's freezing in here!
Sep 23, 2015
11,283
19,102
I already don't like how the government has fucked around with this. There was a guy here who bought a couple of old fish plants to turn into marijuana grow ops and had the plan to open a dispensary, which would have created a bunch of good paying jobs for Newfoundlanders, but instead they handed the contract to some company in BC. That's not a free market.
 

megatherium

el rey del mambo
First 100
Jan 15, 2015
8,798
11,164
Uuuuugh! I think the legal stuff is going to be very expensive so there will always be an illegal trade. And all their political and cop buddies pushing hard to punish weed that doesn't go through them. Disgusting.
The legal stuff, the 'cop weed' if you will, will be garbage as well. The legal supply for med patients that exists now (the same supply that will be available to the public in stores) is sprayed with over 20 government approved pesticides in the flowering phase and on dried bud/and or irradiated. It's poison that doesn't get you very high. Don't buy it folks.

As they say, friends don't let friends smoke LP weed ;)
 

Lamont Cranston

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?
First 100
Jan 15, 2015
4,123
4,405
It's a start.

As much as I think Trudeau is a moron, this is a good thing.
 

megatherium

el rey del mambo
First 100
Jan 15, 2015
8,798
11,164
Just to review: on October 17 you will be able to drive to a government store and purchase up to thirty grams of low quality, chemical laden dried flower. You must then drive straight home with your purchase and place it in a well hidden lock box, away from children. You may then only consume it in the privacy of your home, as long as you own a tradditional single unit house with a yard surrounding it and no minors are present. If you live in a condo or an apartment building, you will need permission from your building strata or landlord. Any other cannabis related activity will be subject to, in the words of Justin Trudeau, "stricter harsher rules to punish more severely"...

The only winners in this regime will be law enforcement with their massive budget increases to enforce legalization, offshore international investors in the production monopoly from the Cayman Islands and elsewhere of the like, and a select group of well placed political insiders and retired police chiefs. That's legalization Canadian style folks. And all of this comes at a time when pot is already virtually legal in the major urban centers anyway. I currently have around 200 storefront dispensaries to choose from here in Vancouver for example, not to mention many more mail order and home delivery options. These provide a practically endless array of concentrated and edible forms, capsules, tinctures, suppositories ect as well as dried flower. Trudeau's 'legalization' regime naturally includes a massive police crackdown on all of these to enforce his cronies' new monopoly. It's really sickening.
 

Rambo John J

Eats things that would make a Billy Goat Puke
First 100
Jan 17, 2015
71,543
71,466
Just to review: on October 17 you will be able to drive to a government store and purchase up to thirty grams of low quality, chemical laden dried flower. You must then drive straight home with your purchase and place it in a well hidden lock box, away from children. You may then only consume it in the privacy of your home, as long as you own a tradditional single unit house with a yard surrounding it and no minors are present. If you live in a condo or an apartment building, you will need permission from your building strata or landlord. Any other cannabis related activity will be subject to, in the words of Justin Trudeau, "stricter harsher rules to punish more severely"...

The only winners in this regime will be law enforcement with their massive budget increases to enforce legalization, offshore international investors in the production monopoly from the Cayman Islands and elsewhere of the like, and a select group of well placed political insiders and retired police chiefs. That's legalization Canadian style folks. And all of this comes at a time when pot is already virtually legal in the major urban centers anyway. I currently have around 200 storefront dispensaries to choose from here in Vancouver for example, not to mention many more mail order and home delivery options. These provide a practically endless array of concentrated and edible forms, capsules, tinctures, suppositories ect as well as dried flower. Trudeau's 'legalization' regime naturally includes a massive police crackdown on all of these to enforce his cronies' new monopoly. It's really sickening.
makes sense

thanks for the breakdown

it is only truly legalized if one is allowed to grow their own cannabis, other "legalizations" are mostly so others can get a piece of the pie in one way or another.
 

Nemo?

Too weird to live, too rare to die.
Dec 2, 2015
4,714
7,898
makes sense

thanks for the breakdown

it is only truly legalized if one is allowed to grow their own cannabis, other "legalizations" are mostly so others can get a piece of the pie in one way or another.
all the shock an awe over the fact that the fat cat's are getting their cut IMO isn't shocking, it should be expected.
 

Rambo John J

Eats things that would make a Billy Goat Puke
First 100
Jan 17, 2015
71,543
71,466
all the shock an awe over the fact that the fat cat's are getting their cut IMO isn't shocking, it should be expected.
yes it should

But some states in US allow you to grow your own and that cuts them clean out of the profit

that is what I was referring to