Acting Medical Officer of Health for Hastings Prince Edward Public Health Dr. Ian Gemmell (File photo: Mary Thomas/Quinte News)
Local public health officials want a piece of the upcoming tax revenue from cannabis sales to help deal with any related health issues.
Ontario will pick up 75% of the taxation and the Hastings Prince Edward Board of Health decided Wednesday to ask the province for a share of that.
Acting Medical Officer of Health Dr. Ian Gemmell says health officials spent decades reducing smoking and now public health will have to deal with cannabis issues.
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Following the meeting, Gemmell told a media scrum, “We spent decades getting people to stop smoking tobacco it doesn’t make any sense, so there’ll be some educational programs on the health concerns about smoking cannabis. There is the whole issue of the developing mind and the effect cannabis can have on this and we have some concerns that some youngsters may end up with some psychological concerns because of this and this is part of the prevention that we normally do.”
Dr. Gemmell estimates a cannabis educator could cost the health unit up to $75,000 a year.
Medical Intern Dr.Piotr Oglaza tells Quinte News he attended a recent meeting of local doctors where it was emphasized there is “very little benefit from medical marijuana.”
In 2017, the federal government introduced legislation to legalize and regulate recreational cannabis in Canada, possibly in September of this year.
A Toronto company is applying to Belleville city council to establish a medicinal cannabis centre in the city.
