4 Friday, January 18, 2019 brooklintowncrier.com Less than half the picture: By Richard Bercuson Opt is Pot misspelled Had I not had her registration form on my desk, I'd have guessed she was perhaps 40. She looked worn and tired though her clothing was clean and almost fashionable, gifts from parents who, she admitted, were appreciative of her efforts to clean up - three times. In fact, she was barely 30. We chatted and I learned more about her than I'd expected her to admit to. Like so many personal sagas I heard during my adult education stint, hers was compelling. A daily fight to regain control of a life spinning wildly, scraping for dollars and sometimes food, all to feed the voracious drug machine she'd become. From cigarettes at 12 to marijuana as a teen to coke and heroine by the late teens till finally, on the brink of doom, she awoke. Now she sat in my class, off near a window to suck in clean air, dragging herself through the English course. "Not nearly as hard as what I've been through," she once said. One morning, a young fellow, a regular student, traipsed in, flung his leather coat over the back of his seat and then collected his marked work. He returned to his desk at a diagonally opposite point in the room from the young lady, a fair distance. Within seconds, the woman rose and sauntered over to me, indicating she wanted to have a word. With tears welling up, she said she had to leave right away. Why? Are you feeling okay, I asked, wondering if some relapse was happening. No, I'm fine, she said. But the kid who came in with the leather coat reeked of pot. The very smell (which I hadn't yet caught) would send her into a relapse. She had to leave, which she did. I asked the fellow to come into the hall with his coat which indeed was rank with the smell. I told him what she'd said and that he had to leave, too. I doubled as back up Vice Principal and could play that card. He denied smoking up before school, that the jacket was hung next to his roommate's in the closet, which would explain the smell. Sure, I said - he knew I knew it was a crock - but we can't have that smell here. Zero tolerance policy aside, that young lady might spiral back to who knows what and I'm sure you wouldn't want that on your conscience. He nodded and left, returning the next day smelling just fine. She returned, too, and completed her course and a couple of others. They never went near each other. Before that and similar stories, I might - might - have felt differently. However, given those, I did not support legalization, just decriminalization. On the recent Whitby survey, I voted to opt out. It may be somebody's want, though an unnecessary one. And it does fill a medicinal need for some. Otherwise, nope... Cannabis Survey Results: Whitby Wants Out Whitby Council conducted a survey in December as part of its fact-finding to adopt one of the two options, on whether privately-operated cannabis retail stores should be permitted in Whitby. Telephone survey Beginning on December 14, 2018, Forum Research conducted a telephone survey of people who live and/or work in Whitby to determine their support or opposition to private retail storefronts selling cannabis in Whitby. As part of the survey, 412 responses were collected. The survey results were deemed to be statistically accurate ±4.83%, 19 times out of 20. Of those respondents, 48% (196 people) opposed private cannabis retail stores in Whitby. 33% (135 people) supported private cannabis retail stores. A further 15% (63 people) neither opposed nor supported such stores, with 5% (19 people) unsure. Online survey An online survey hosted on the Town's website was also conducted between December 13 and 28, which received 2,219 responses. Of those surveyed, 96% of the respondents indicated that they lived and/or worked in Whitby. Based on the online survey results, 51% (1,135 people) opposed private cannabis retail stores in Whitby. 43% (946 people) supported private cannabis retail stores. A further 5% (108 people) neither supported nor opposed such stores, with 1% (30 people) unsure. Who's opting out As of the date this report was written, within the GTA, only Toronto has agreed to allow private recreational cannabis retail stores. Markham, Mississauga, Richmond Hill, King Township, and Pickering have opted out. If Council wishes to opt out of the private retail model, they must do so by passing a resolution directed to the AGCO on or before January 22, 2019. Should a municipality fail to pass a resolution opting out by the deadline, the AGCO will consider that the municipality has no objection to cannabis retail stores, and such a municipality will automatically be considered to have opted in. Should Council wish to opt out of the private retail model initially, they may later choose to opt in. However, if the one-time opt out is later reversed, the decision to opt in then becomes final. Limit to provincial outlets Under new regulations to the Cannabis Licence Act, 2018, and due to a claimed shortage of supply, the province is initially allocating only 25 Retail Store Authorizations in Ontario. In the GTA, five stores are allocated to the City of Toronto, with six stores to be shared in the remainder of the GTA. Cannabis retail stores cannot be located in a municipality that has passed a resolution prohibiting cannabis retail stores from being located in the municipality. Regardless of whether Council chooses to opt in or out, the Town and other Ontario municipalities require revenue fairness from the province and the federal government. Whitby should receive a fair share of cannabis revenues and/or the ability to levy cannabis sales taxes, to provide guaranteed, sustainable, and meaningful funding from cannabis legalization, similar to the experience of local governments in Colorado.