HIGH ON POSSIBLE WEED LAW CHANGES

Chances are the server at your local coffee shop isn't going to be
asking you, "Would you like a joint with that?" the next time you
order a latte.

But it could happen, someday. Word that Justice Minister Anne
McLellan favours a national debate on decriminalizing marijuana
possession had a manager at a local hemp store speculating recently
that Edmonton liquor stores and coffee shops could someday be selling
the stuff.

Not a bad idea, said a server at an Old Strathcona coffee shop yesterday.

"I think that would be fine. It's a very relaxed atmosphere," she
said, asking not to be identified. She likes to partake of the weed
herself now and again - although not on the job.

Jordan of Eastgate Liquor Store said he thinks branching out into the
ganja market might alienate the shop's older clientele.

"More than likely they'd have to open up separate shops (to sell
marijuana)," he said. "I'm pro-legalization. It's just safer. You
don't have to worry about people getting bad stuff. "(It would be)
the same (message) as a liquor store: Don't smoke and drive."

Benjamin Currie of True North Hemp Company on Whyte Avenue, who mused
recently about the possibility of grass going retail in Canada, said
he's not holding his breath until the stuff comes out from under the
Criminal Code. But he's hopeful.

"If it ever did (get legalized) I think conceivably in a few years we
would be able to get a licence," he said.

"And in a perfect society we'd have the right to grow it and use it
as medicine, which should be our right."