PRI on CBC:  Coast to Coast to Coast Talking Cannabis

Pine River’s CEO Vaughan Dowie and Acting Clinical Director Anne Tong participated in a media marathon with the CBC to share Pine River’s position on the fifth anniversary of Canada’s legalization of cannabis.   

Starting pre-dawn in side-by-side crammed radio booths at the CBC headquarters in Toronto, between them they did TWENTY-NINE back-to-back interviews with morning news radio shows across the country. 

Anne started in Halifax, N.S., tracking her way across and up-and-down the country (with hits including Yellowknife and Whitehorse), ending her stint in Kamloops, B.C. (in blue on the map). 

Vaughan’s interview journey took him from Cape Breton to Kelowna, including audiences in Saskatoon and Iqaluit, among others. His pre-taped interview with the largest audience on Toronto’s Metro Morning went to air the next day. (in red on the map) 

Pine River has consistently advocated for two things:   

  • Clear and consistent public education targeting youth on the potential harms of cannabis 
  • A commitment from government to invest revenue from the sale and taxation of cannabis into treatment. 

You can listen to examples from among the interviews here: 

Vaughan Dowie on CBC Saskatoon.
Anne Tong on CBC Edmonton.

If you missed it earlier, Vaughan wrote an Op-Ed in the Ottawa Citizen last January. PRI also contributed to the Federal government’s recent Cannabis Act Legislative Review. It would seem at least some have been listening: the recent Legislative Review report included our thoughts, and on October 26th, our colleagues at the Dave Smith Centre echoed our call with their own submission to the Ottawa Citizen.