The election of the CAQ could make Quebec the place where cannabis laws are the most severe in the country.
"This is clearly bad news," says Guerin Maxime advocate for SGF, a consulting firm on the cannabis industry. In his opinion, Quebec will become the most restrictive province if the CAQ implements all its promises.
"But more than the industry, it would rather be the consumer who would be penalized by the changes in the CAQ," said Philippe Depault general manager of the Montreal company of marijuana accessory Maïtri.
The party of François Legault has indeed promised to raise the minimum age to consume at 21 years. Quebec would become the province where the age to buy cannabis would be older. All provinces set the age at 19 except for Quebec and Alberta, where the limit is currently 18 years old.
The CAQ also wants to limit to 15 grams the amount that one can have at any time instead of the 30 grams in public and the 150 grams at home provided in the law passed by the Liberals in June. Quebec is the only province to set a limit at home.
With Manitoba, we are also the only province to ban the cultivation of four home-grown plants even before the CAQ comes to power.
Not in public
The party's great promise, however, remains to ban consumption in all public places.
Forty cities already plan to do so on their territory. But the Union of Quebec Municipalities (UMQ) has repeatedly asked the government to respect the autonomy of cities and let them decide.
UMQ President Alexandre Cusson reiterated in the Journal that cities have the skills to define the most appropriate regulations according to their reality (health, safety, socio-demographic characteristics). "It's the end of Quebec City's time for cities!" He says
The national director of public health Horacio Arruda has also warned municipalities against bans on consumption for all public places.
"Only private places become lawful places for the consumption of smoked cannabis, which may have some collateral effects, for example an increase in the exposure of the population to secondhand smoke in private residences," he said. affirmed at the convention of the Quebec Federation of Municipalities, September 22.
At the beginning of the campaign, Jean-Sebastien Fallu, a professor at the School of Psychoeducation at the University of Montreal and a specialist in the prevention of drug addiction was also worried about the prospect of a Caquist government.
"I disagree with all of the CAQ's proposals that do not rely on science, but morality and consumer stigma," he says.
Ontario had also planned to ban consumption in public places, but the election of Doug Ford changed the game. It will be allowed to smoke where the cigarette is tolerated.
As long as he opens the law, Mr. Fallu would like the government to set up an observatory on drugs and drug addiction. The Parti Québécois made a proposal in this case alone when the bill on cannabis was being considered.
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