The city is treading on shaky legal ground say some lawyers, and Ottawa has been clear on its position: Only licensed corporate growers can sell medical marijuana to patients.
“That $30,000 [licensing fee] under the current criminal law could be considered proceeds of crime and the city could be involved in aco-conspirator in drug trafficking,” says lawyer Tony Wilson. （閱讀全文）
專業研究組織
Smart Approach for Marijuana in Canada 發言人Pamela McColl：溫市政府不負責任
Smart Approaches for Marijuana Canada is opposed to regulating the dispensaries, saying they will simply become a gateway for youth to obtain the drug. McColl says she’s surprised that the main pushback to the city’s plans is coming from the federal government, which wants them shut down.
“Why am I doing this? Why are we doing this?” said McColl of her efforts. “Where is law enforcement? Where are the political parties? Where’s the opposition parties to the B.C. government? Where is everybody? You know this is illegal business going on here.“（閱讀全文）
Pamela McColl, spokesperson for Smart Approaches to Marijuana Canada, said her organization, one of the most vocal groups opposed to the dispensaries, had boycotted the hearings except for sending 18-year-old representative Connor Fesenmaier, who raised concerns about the negative effect the dispensaries have on his friends.
“We think that this city doesn’t understand the crisis in this country is its youth,” Ms. McColl said Wednesday. “To expose the public to a product that’s not tested is just irresponsible.”
Her group is concerned that dispensaries will get an air of legitimacy through city regulations and that they only increase young people’s access to the drug. She said Canadian youth represent the largest segment of the population smoking marijuana in the country and have some of the highest statistics of cannabis use in the Western world.（閱讀全文）
醫學界
Dr. Romina Mizrahi, director of the Focus on Youth Psychosis Prevention ：越來越多研究顯示青少年因大麻引發精神病，它傷害發育中的大腦。
Scientific studies increasingly suggest marijuana may not be the risk-free high that teens — and sometimes their parents — think it is, researchers say.
Yet pot is still widely perceived by young smokers as relatively harmless, said Dr. Romina Mizrahi, director of the Focus on Youth Psychosis Prevention clinic and research program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
‘Certainly don’t do it when your brain is developing. Don’t put yourself at risk.’– — Romina Mizrahi
She cites a growing body of research that warns of significantly higher incidence of hallucinations, paranoia and the triggering of psychotic illness in adolescent users who are most predisposed.
“When you look at the studies in general, you can safely say that in those that are vulnerable, it doubles the risk.”
Such fallout is increasingly evident in the 19-bed crisis monitoring unit at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa.
“I see more and more cases of substance-induced psychosis,” said Dr. Sinthu Suntharalingam, a child and adolescent psychiatrist. “The most common substance that’s abused is cannabis.”
One or two cases a week are now arriving on average.
“They will present with active hallucinations,” Suntharalingam said. “Parents will be very scared. They don’t know what’s going on.
“They’ll be seeing things, hearing things, sometimes they will try to self-harm or go after other people.” （閱讀全文）
