Feds name doctors, academics and lawyer to Cannabis Act review panel

OTTAWA -

The federal government has announced a panel of experts that will lead a statutory review of the country's Cannabis Act.

Panel members include Dr. Oyedeji Ayonrinde, an associate professor in the psychiatry and psychology departments at Queen's University, and Dr. Patricia Conrod, a registered clinical psychologist and professor at the University of Montreal's department of psychiatry and addiction.

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Rounding out the panel is Lynda Levesque, a criminal lawyer and member of the Fisher River Cree Nation in Manitoba, Treaty Five territory, and Dr. Peter Selby of the University of Toronto's department of family and community medicine.

Morris Rosenberg, a former deputy minister of justice and deputy attorney general of Canada, was previously announced as the head of the review, which was launched a year later than mandated.

His group will study the impact of cannabis on public health, young people and Indigenous communities, as well as its economic, social and environmental impacts.

The Cannabis Act, which set purchase and possession limits at 30 grams of dried pot or the equivalent in 2018, says the government must issue a report, including findings and recommendations, no later than 18 months after the review begins.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 30, 2022