The Canadian Federal government’s failure to facilitate research into the potential health issues associated with cannabis consumption.
According to Toronto-based newspaper The Globe and Mail, the former Canadian Health Minister has said the lack of research following recreational cannabis legalisation in 2018 was a ‘big disappointment’.
“The big disappointment coming out of the legalisation project is that governments and researchers have not stepped up in the way that we had hoped after legalisation to do a lot of that research,” Anne McLellan, who was part of the task force responsible for laying the groundwork for legalisation said.
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She continued that she had hoped the government would incentivise private sector parties to conduct research into the effects of cannabis consumption which had been largely restricted during prohibition.
With the last study into cannabis sales and consumption published by Health Canada in 2013, Ms McLellan argued that the government could ‘potentially’ face a class action lawsuit.
Despite this, she stipulated that any such lawsuit could yet be years away, so ample time is available for the government to rectify the situation.