Wednesday, June 20, 2018
Canada Is The Second Country In The World To Legalize Marijuana Use
CBC: Trudeau says pot will be legal as of Oct. 17, 2018
Jody Wilson-Raybould says progressive policy will replace failed model that made criminals rich.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today that Canadians will be able to consume marijuana recreationally without criminal penalties starting on Oct. 17, 2018 — many months later than the government's initial target date.
"One of the things that we heard very clearly from the provinces is that they need a certain amount of time to get their bricks and mortar stores — their online sales — ready. Producers need time to be able to actually prepare for a regimented and successful implementation of the regime ... This is something that we want to get right," Trudeau told reporters at a press conference held today before the House of Commons rises for its summer recess.
Read more ....
Update #1: Senate passes cannabis legalization bill in final vote (CTV)
Update #2: Canadians will be able to legally puff pot starting Oct. 17 (Toronto Star)
WNU Editor: A very very very long time ago I got involved with a UN group that did a study on why did the U.S. pass laws at the turn of the century to prohibit drugs like cocaine, morphine/heroin and other opiates, and yes .... marijuana (at the time they were all legal). We found out very quickly that the reason why these drugs were readily available was to satisfy the addiction needs of many of the wounded from the Civil War who had become dependent on morphine. But once this population died off, and a new generation started to be consumers of these drugs, the decision was made to stop it. The reason why was simple. Medical and social experts at the time were alarmed on how gateway drugs were being used, and how a small percentage of these users were quickly becoming consumers of "harder drugs". Flash forward a century .... with our political leaders conveniently forgetting about history .... it looks like we are about to repeat it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Editor:
are you saying that marijuana, aka weed, aks cannabis is a gateway drug? Booze, by contrast, is not...you go from a few drinks a day to addiction but that does not make it gateway. Does cannabis have medical property? For sure it does. Ask specialists in Parkinsons or PTSD or epilepsy. But at recreational level? Smoking is legal, nearly universal, and non-addictive?
ps: I have a license for legal medical weed
People who drink alcohol .... usually stick with alcohol. Drugs users who like marijuana .... for a certain percentage .... and it is the younger generation who we are talking about .... for many reasons move on to stronger drugs. Hence .... gateway drug. In the province of Quebec, pot use is very heavy. The pot that is grown indoors is regarded by many to be the best (and some say strongest) in the world. Big reason being that hydro-electricity rates are some of the cheapest in the world that makes such grow-ops viable. I personally know many people who smoke pot on a regular basis .... and in my opinion .... a certain segment are addicted to pot. But also many are not. I personally do not like drugs. I saw the impact that heroin did on a friend that I once knew in Russia (heroin addiction is huge in Russia), and I have seen the destructive effects of heavy marijuana use on a friend of mine in Quebec. But other people that I know have shown no long term impact on their use marijuana. Everyone is impacted different.
They say weed is non addictive, I fish with a few guys that have to smoke on a regular basis and they get awfully twitchy when they miss their smoke time...like shaky twitchy. looks like fun, I'll stick to walking.
I used to be good friends with a couple who were drug dealers (initially pot).
So much so that they sought out the house to rent in Parnell, Auckland that a legendary New Zealand drug dealer once lived in (Terrence Clark - head of Mr Asia syndicate).
The couple got the place, even inviting neighbours over to chat about the days when the police used their homes as surveillance on Mr Clark.
The pot dealing led to ecstasy, then speed, Ketamine and finally methamphetamine. The male ended up a mess, the woman escaped 5 years later battered and bruised from a 'week on it'. He's now in jail and she's a woman living with her mum is a bleak part of New Zealand.
Before they started dealing, he ran an adventure tourism business in Queenstown and she a partner in a marketing company.
Will pot lead to worse stuff? Yip.
Open the door just a little and people will think they're invincible.
Seen it and almost fell victim myself.
What kept me from falling was that I loved running (still do), and I hated not being fit.
Crazy times, and only 18 years ago...
Coffee is addictive
Running is addictive
Not all things are gateway or fully destructive
I think the option to legalize as an alternative to alcohol is great. I do not drink anymore because of alcoholism, but occasionally I will enjoy some form of low dose marijuana extract. Recreationally legal in California, my current residence. The road away from alcoholism was difficult for me in Massachusetts, where penalty for possession was essentially non existent. The only issue: Procurement, particularly safe and reliable procurement.
I lived in the highest crime per capita city and to get pot I had to deal with undesirables at times, typically people who were strangers, friend of a friend, a “connect”, etc. with access to much “harder” drugs, and themselves ranging from erratic to irrational with a potential for violence. When good quality pot wasn’t available, access to various harmful/addictive alternatives were options. Or the bars. My belief is having a safe procurement process will help keep those who want to use pot safely away from those who can get a “hard” variety of illicits and pressure one into the sale of something for the hook.
For myself, marijuana is a safer alternative to another legalized yet addictive and poisonous vice, alcohol. I have no issue with others drinking and I still go out often on weekends with friends, thankfully with the ability to take an edge off in a manner I know will not harm myself. I do not know Canada’s drug laws currently, but I am thankful for recreational here, and I wish it were an option to my younger self. I would suggest in my experience, for all whose use becomes a harmful gateway, there is an exponential number whose use kept away from harm.
Creating a nation of stoners is not an improvement.
lety's hear it for smoking and drinking! makes for healthy population and great driving and happy families...who needs lung cancer and AA and such nonsense
I normally agree with WNU, and disagree with fred. That is not the case here. Weed isn't a gateway drug. The people that move on to harder drugs are the ones that already have an addictive personality. They move on because weed isn't giving them the out of body high they are looking for. How many alcoholics try their first x pill at a club, or their first line of cocaine. If you cant call alcohol a gateway drug, then you really cant call weed a gateway drug. The thing about gateway drugs, is that they are a myth. People progress through drugs depending on what they are looking to get out of it. Less pain, to forget, to feel numb, and so on. Weeds high is to relax. I have never met someone so doped up on weed that they rob someone, stop going to work, or that they can't function. On the other hand, I see it everytime I go to a bar (not often at all). Personal friends of mine are at a standstill in their life, and will probably amount to very little due to their drinking. They have completely changed from the school friends I knew years ago. 25% WNU. That's how much opioid overdoses have decreased in the American states that have legalized it. The only bad effect so far due to American legalization, is how much is crossing the borders from legal states. Our body holds on to the for 30 days. Everything else 3 days or less. That's because our body's like thc.
Post a Comment