Legal marijuana in Canada
This month, in June 2018, the federal Liberal government of Canada headed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, is set to make marijuana a legal commercial weed in Canada, subject to federal regulation and tax. It is the fulfilment of a 2015 election promise. I remember in the federal election of 1979 , Trudeau’s father, Pierre Trudeau proposed the “decriminalization” of marijuana to the disdain of almost everyone. At the time he caused some confusion because people didn’t understand what “decriminalization” meant, or even if it was a synonym for “legalization.”
Some imagine Canadian cities will become like Amsterdam in Holland, famous for its canals, its red light district, and its marijuana cafes. I don’t think so. Whatever Canada will be like after legal recreational marijuana shops start dotting the landscape it will be a Canadian thing, not a Dutch thing. We’ll have to wait and see how it falls out.
The current consensus is that marijuana has been proven to be less harmful than either tobacco and alcohol (and tobacco and alcohol together), and that its use is so widespread that it is misuse of police resources and government budgets to continue to prosecute marijuana possession and use. At least small amounts of it. I don’t know about large amounts. Additionally, some among cannabis’ supporters advocate its therapeutic uses, for example as a painkiller and sedative for cancer treatment, arthritis, migraines, neuropathy, and more.
The decision to legalize the weed is not so much a recognition of its social acceptability as caving in to the high cost of continuing to prosecute it. But pot advocates don’t see it that way. Their narrative is that the decision to legalize it is a reflection of social acceptability.
I disagree. I disagree with alcohol and tobacco use, too, but that’s just the way I am. Anyway, some people have asked why marijuana is illegal in the first place? How did it come to be made illegal and vilified as a counter culture wedge threatening decent society?
It was made illegal first in the U.S. when newspaper baron Randolph Hearst, who had considerable tobacco interests, pressured U.S. politicians to ban the less harmful cannabis as a way of protecting and promoting his own business interests . Very successfully, too, but with selfish and malicious intentions more than for the good of society at heart. He used his newspaper empire to spin the debate by saturating society with false propaganda about the nature and effect of marijuana. I don’t know much about Randolph Hearst - I know more about his granddaughter, Patty - but I imagine he was a royal bastard.
Marijuana and industrial hemp are related but distinct. The legality of industrial hemp varies from country to country. You can't smoke industrial hemp. Or, if you tried, there would be no psychotropic effect. Industrial hemp is especially attractive as a source of textiles because it is one of the fastest growing plants in the world, comparable to common grass and bamboo. Historically, industrial hemp has been woven into fibers and used for rope (and other stuff) for millennia. It is attractive as a source of fibers, textiles, food, biofuel, and even as a building material. Commercial production of industrial hemp in Canada has been legal, with a license, since 1998. The Canadian government is currently planning to abandon marijuana prosecutions not because marijuana is no longer frowned on but because it's giving up trying to battle the public's depravity - like tobacco, it's an abomination, but what can you do? Or, rather, it is less the former than the latter. I have no doubt that legalized marijuana, and increased public use of it, will not lead to the destruction of society, defying the scare tactics of its opponents. But I have no plans to patronize a pot shop or to fraternize with drug addicts. But I could be wrong.