Toronto Mayor John Tory is considering regulating the city’s growing number of marijuana dispensaries.
There are about 100 of the businesses in operation at the moment and Tory wants the rules surrounding marijuana clarified by the federal government.
The mayor wants to limit the number of dispensaries in each neighbourhood and keep them a specified distance from schools.
Meantime, former Prime Minister Jean Chretien says it’s time for Canada to finally fully decriminalize pot possession.
The 82-year-old says it’s time politicians adjusted to changing times and says his own views on marijuana have evolved since he was first elected in the early 1960’s. He says it makes no sense to hang a criminal record on someone who is merely smoking a joint.
In 2003, when Chretien was prime minister, he tried to pass a law that would have decriminalized simple possession. That bill died on the order paper.