28 BCBusiness nOVEmBER 2018
Bonnie Henry spent three years as
deputy provincial health ocer before
taking her current role in February. The
physician and
UBC clinical associate pro-
fessor, who specializes in public health
and preventative medicine, is the •rst
woman to hold the job.
When it comes to legalization of
recreational cannabis, what
expertise do you bring?
A lot of my expertise
is around looking at
population health risk
assessment, being able
to understand how things
impact people in di-erent
age groups and populations.
The bene•t of regulating
consumer products using a public health
approach is something I believe in and
that we've been looking at around can-
nabis. But also as we're dealing with the
overdose crisis, I have a strong belief that
we need to look at decriminalizing people
who use drugs, and that putting people
who use drugs in the criminal justice
system serves nobody.
From a public health perspective,
how prepared is b.C. for legalization?
There's bound to be some hiccups and
challenges, but we've done a fairly exten-
sive job. We've prepared lots of informa-
tion for people, and that's going to be out
there a bit more in the public eye. We just
have to wait and see. I personally think it's
going to be a little blip, and there's going
to be some people who try it for the •rst
time, and I might be one of them.
Looking ahead, what are you most
concerned about?
We want to make sure that people who
are going to try it and experiment
for the •rst time have an
understanding of what's in
the product and what the
potential side e-ects can
be, particularly young
people.
What message do
you have for businesses
that will sell recreational
cannabis?
Businesses have a responsibility to under-
stand that cannabis is not just an innocu-
ous food product. Like with alcohol,
everybody has a part to play in trying to
minimize the harms. So providing factual
information, making sure that customers
are aware of some of the risks, not giving
misinformation or overblown information
about bene•ts of cannabis use. —N.R.
This interview has been edited
T H E C A R E T A k E R
Bonnie henrY
Provincial health officer
throUgh
thE roof
Grower Dan sutton
has high praise for
b.C. greenhouse
technology
