Education and enforcement: Yellowknifers weigh in on N.W.T. marijuana legalization

More than 50 people attended a public consultation about cannabis legalization in Yellowknife on Thursday night.

Some of the questions from the the public included "Can I smoke marijuana on my balcony?" and "Will dry communities be creating their own cannabis regulations?" while the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce raised concerns about potential legislation hurting local businesses.

"We need to make sure that the government is our regulator, but not our retailer. Producers should not be able to also sell their product," said Deneen Everett, executive director of the chamber.

"This will actually create a much more fair environment, which will allow small businesses to start up and take advantage of those opportunities."

• Marijuana legalization meeting draws big crowd, lots of questions, in Inuvik
• ​Government pot survey sparks record response in N.W.T.
• N.W.T. communities not ready for legal marijuana, says Sahtu MLA

The meeting, put on by the territorial government, is part of a series of public consultations being held across the territory this month.

The federal government is legalizing cannabis by July 2018, but leaving it up to the provincial and territorial governments to implement their own laws.

​The public feedback from the consultations will be used to help the government of the Northwest Territories draft its legislation.

• Federal-provincial showdown looms over legal pot deadline

Michele Thoms, a teacher at  St. Patrick High School, said students need more information on what's going on.

"Availability is going to increase use among people who shouldn't be using it," she said. "So what I would like to see is as much information as you can get into the school systems about marijuana, about the effects of marijuana."

Gerri Sharpe, who was also at Thursday's meeting, said the public education around marijuana needs to focus on the medical aspects as well as recreational use.

"Part of the public awareness campaign that needs to happen needs to emphasize not only the bad things that marijuana can do, but also the medical uses," she said. "Because the medical uses are part and parcel why it's becoming legal.

Sharpe added she's also concerned about how the quality of the cannabis will be controlled.

"The quality control scares the living heck out of me. Not so much where it's going to be sold or who it's going to be sold to, it's the quality control of what's being sold," she said.

Sharpe remembers a time when the quality of tobacco in cigarettes was not regulated as closely and is worried that could happen with marijuana.

At least one person, however, thinks the government's effort to establish legislation is a waste of time.

"These regulations are totally unenforceable, so all you're going to end up doing is creating a bunch of rules that nobody is going to pay attention to," Gary Vaillancourt said.

"How much can you have at home? If you carry it around on your person? It's just totally unenforceable, so this idea that you're going to control it all? Give it up."

Public consultation continues next week, with meetings in Fort Smith on Sept. 18, Hay River on Sept. 19, and Behchoko on Sept. 20.

The territorial government must have its new marijuana laws in place and implemented by July 1, 2018.