By Geoff Smith (@smithco on Twitter)

Alberta government begins survey on pot legalization

Jun 2, 2017 | 11:27 AM

CALGARY – The provincial government has a tight time frame to work with, as it prepares for the federal legalization of recreational marijuana by July 2018.

It’s opened a two-month window for an online survey of Albertans on how as a province Alberta should implement the change.

“Our priorities are to keep profits away from criminals, keep cannabis out of the hands of children, and protect Alberta’s roads and workplaces,” Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley said during a Calgary news conference Friday, June 2.

“It’s an ambitious time frame,” she added. “Depending on the decisions that get made, it’s more or less challenging to set everything up in time. But right now it is our intention to hear from Albertans and have an Alberta-specific framework and implementation up and ready to go.”

One of the things that will have to be worked out is overlapping jurisdictions involving Alberta and Ottawa, such as traffic safety. The province will talk to others as part of its consultations, which will also include roundtable meetings and in-person surveys at festivals.

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The survey will ask for input on questions surrounding the purchase of cannabis, and the legal age. The federal legislation sets the basic minimum age at 18 but gives the provinces discretion to raise it in conjunction with the legal drinking age.

One of the subjects Ganley said she learned from Colorado’s experience that will have to be addressed is control of the concentration of the drug in products, so people know how much they’re taking, but that will be for Ottawa to decide down the road.

“When we’re talking about where we’re going to consume, and where we’re going to sell, and things like that, we have to consider both sides of that coin,” Ganley said.

The deadline to respond to the survey is July 31.