Canada holds to ‘spirit’ of drug treaties with legal pot: McLellan
OTTAWA — A former Liberal cabinet minister who led a federally appointed task force on legalizing cannabis says Canada’s plan to greenlight the drug for recreational use is in keeping with the spirit of international treaties — all of which criminalize the possession and production of marijuana.
It will be up to the government to make the case in relation to the treaties, Anne McLellan said Friday in an interview with The Canadian Press.
“We believe, as a task force, that we are, at least, in the spirit of those treaties,” she said. “Those treaties talk to the protection of youth and young people, keeping young people out of criminal situations. They speak to fairness and justice and they speak to public health.”
Canada is one of more than 185 parties to three United Nations drug control conventions — the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances and the 1988 Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.