Jackson Square, 185 King Street, Peterborough, ON K9J 2R8 P: 705-743-1000 or 1-877-743-0101 F: 705-743-2897 peterboroughpublichealth.ca

September 14, 2017

The Honourable Yasir Naqvi Attorney General of 720 Bay Street, 11th Floor Toronto, ON M7A 2S9 [email protected]

Dear Minister Naqvi:

Re: Ontario’s safe and sensible framework to manage federal legalization of cannabis

On behalf of our Board of Health, I would like to congratulate the Province of Ontario and the Cannabis Secretariat on releasing their plans for regulating federally legalized cannabis. Consultation was invited by the Province through to July 31st, 2017, to which Peterborough Public Health contributed to a submission as part of the Ontario Public Health Unit Collaboration on Cannabis (OPHUCC). We are pleased to see that the Province’s newly released plan is aligned with various components of this submission such as: • Establishing a safe and responsible supply chain of cannabis using a government monopoly, where cannabis will not be sold alongside alcohol in Ontario; • Setting the minimum age of purchase to 19 (suggested as a minimum); • Prohibiting smoking of cannabis in public places; • Developing a public information campaign, to complement the federal government’s public awareness campaign; • Developing a comprehensive prevention and harm reduction approach to promote awareness of cannabis-related harms; • Working with and supporting enforcement partners to keep our roads safe; and • Working with municipalities to choose most appropriate store locations.

It is our hope that the Province continues to use a public health approach in the legalization of cannabis. While the federal government has responsibility for setting packaging and advertising restrictions, we request that the provincial regulations include the following: • Adopt plain packaging; • Prohibit the production and sale of products that are attractive to youth; • Require that all cannabis products be sold in a child-resistant container and be marked with a universal symbol indication the container holds cannabis; and • Avoid all forms of cannabis product promotion, including sponsorship, endorsement, branding and point-of-sale advertising.

We are very encouraged by Ontario’s promise that “revenues associated with cannabis legalization will be reinvested to ensure [the Province] meets [their] priorities of protecting young people, focusing on public

Page 1 of 2

Serving the residents of Curve Lake and Hiawatha First Nations, and the County and City of Peterborough

health and community safety, promoting prevention and harm reduction and eliminating the illegal market”. We look forward to learning more about the reinvestment strategy and how our public health work may be supported by this.

Our board of health is committed to protecting and promoting the health and well-being of our residents. We look forward to further details in order to support our community in this transition period.

Yours in health,

Original signed by

Mayor Mary Smith Chair, Board of Health

/ag cc: Hon. , Premier Hon. Dr. , Minister of Health and Long-Term Care Local MPPs Dr. David Williams, Chief Medical Officer of Health Association of Local Public Health Agencies Ontario Boards of Health Allan Seabrooke, CAO, City of Peterborough Gary King, CAO, County of Peterborough

Page 2 of 2

Serving the residents of Curve Lake and Hiawatha First Nations, and the County and City of Peterborough