Mike Hager, Globe and Mail, August 9, 2016
Contrary to common RCMP wisdom, organized crime groups play a relatively small role in Canada’s underground cannabis trade, and the majority of people behind the country’s illegal grow operations and dispensaries are otherwise law-abiding…A written submission co-authored by a prominent criminologist on behalf of a drug-policy advocacy group cites government data that showed just 5 per cent of marijuana criminal cases over an eight-year period had links to organized crime or street gangs. And the groups warn that overestimating the role of organized crime will create a new regime that will be too restrictive and simply perpetuate the black market.