Mr. Oscapella has lectured widely on drug policy and on privacy issues both in Canada and abroad, including Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, France, New Zealand, Portugal, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam.

Mr. Oscapella is currently offering seminars on Canada’s move to legalize and regulate cannabis: Cannabis in Canada: Moving from Prohibition to Regulation—What You Need to Know. The seminars will help professionals and officials at all levels of government understand the implications of changes to Canada’s cannabis laws.

CANNABIS IN CANADA: MOVING FROM PROHIBITION TO REGULATION­–WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

The Seminar

Length: 6 hours

For almost two decades, Canada has operated various systems for access to medical cannabis. However, the criminal law has continued to prohibit cannabis for non-medical purposes. During the 2015 federal election, the Liberal Party committed to legalizing and strictly regulating cannabis for non-medical purposes. After the election, the Government established a task force to examine options to achieve this. In late November 2016, the task force submitted its report to the Government. In April of 2017, the Government introduced two bills—the first setting out a regulatory model for cannabis and the second revising Canada’s criminal law dealing with impaired driving, including cannabis-impaired driving.

Moving from a criminal law-based model to a regulatory model raises a host of issues for federal, provincial and municipal governments. It is important for individuals at all three levels of government to understand the range of issues involved in regulating cannabis for recreational use.

Eugene Oscapella will cover the following topics:

• History of cannabis legislation in Canada
• Current legal status—medical and non-medical cannabis
• Problems with the current criminal law-based system
• The reform landscape since 2000
  • Parliamentary reviews
  • Unsuccessful attempts to change legislation
  • Changes to legislation 2000-2015
    • Mandatory minimums
    • Changes to medical cannabis regulations
    • Amendments to drug-impaired driving provisions
• Reforms promised by Liberal Government in 2015
• Bills now before Parliament—Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act, and Bill C-46, further changing impaired driving provisions relating to drugs
• Regulatory options and issues arising from those options.

Lawyers and other professionals may be able to use these seminar hours to meet their continuing education requirements.

Fee: $595 plus HST (includes materials, lunch and refreshments)

The next of these seminars will be held in Ottawa in autumn 2017.

For bookings or additional information, contact Mr. Oscapella at: eugene@oscapella.ca or 613-238-5909.