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October 17. 2018. Legalized Pot Day

Highlander

Well-known member
After traveling through Colorado last fall and moving to BC, it strikes me that many many many people are stoned most of the day, the happy glazed look in the visages of the masses.  Not sure this is such a great idea but here it is, legalized pot.

Funny but in my community of around 40K, there is a very upscale Pot Shop which has been selling everything from Gummy Bears to Hashish to high potency pot etc. for a long time now. Seems that it was legal in BC a long time before October 17/18

Sign at the Kelowna Airport (noticed on October 4) "Pot is legal in Canada for travel in Canada, but is illegal for Travel to other countries.  This is well before Oct. 17

Guess I will wait for spring, get my trowel out and plant me my 4 plants. LOL
 
Not that it especially matters but pot has been "legal" in Canada for a very long time in the same way that things like Xanax or Oxycontin are. What this law is doing is just changing the status of the drug from being legal with a prescription to being legal for everyone.

So it makes sense for airports to, in advance of the law, remind people that they can't fly internationally especially considering how messed up the US is on the issue.

Pot being legal in Canada will generate tax revenue, create jobs and free up law enforcement for meaningful pursuits. It's win-win-win.
 
Nik the Trik said:
Pot being legal in Canada will generate tax revenue, create jobs and free up law enforcement for meaningful pursuits. It's win-win-win.

+1

It's an interesting question as to whether all drugs, no matter how toxic should be legal, but dispensed in a controlled way through the government.  (Heroin? Meth? Fentanyl?)
 
Frycer14 said:
I'd have much preferred that it went the decriminalization route vs legalization.

Why is that?  If it is legalized, then the organized crime that disseminates it will cease to exist, government can profit and the contents of the substances can be controlled, ideally decreasing the number of overdoses.  Decriminalization doesnt seem to have the same benefits.
 
princedpw said:
Frycer14 said:
I'd have much preferred that it went the decriminalization route vs legalization.

Why is that?  If it is legalized, then the organized crime that disseminates it will cease to exist, government can profit and the contents of the substances can be controlled, ideally decreasing the number of overdoses.  Decriminalization doesnt seem to have the same benefits.

I won't argue that there won't be disadvantages.
 
Frycer14 said:
princedpw said:
Frycer14 said:
I'd have much preferred that it went the decriminalization route vs legalization.

Why is that?  If it is legalized, then the organized crime that disseminates it will cease to exist, government can profit and the contents of the substances can be controlled, ideally decreasing the number of overdoses.  Decriminalization doesnt seem to have the same benefits.

I won't argue that there won't be disadvantages.
If alcohol and pot were discovered today at the same time alcohol would be made illegal and pot be made legal. The negative impact of alcohol far outweighs the negative impact of pot.

Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk

 
Bender said:
Frycer14 said:
princedpw said:
Frycer14 said:
I'd have much preferred that it went the decriminalization route vs legalization.

Why is that?  If it is legalized, then the organized crime that disseminates it will cease to exist, government can profit and the contents of the substances can be controlled, ideally decreasing the number of overdoses.  Decriminalization doesnt seem to have the same benefits.

I won't argue that there won't be disadvantages.
If alcohol and pot were discovered today at the same time alcohol would be made illegal and pot be made legal. The negative impact of alcohol far outweighs the negative impact of pot.

Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk

Is that really true? Obviously what we have the benefit of is the stats and facts and figures that are available as people go to hospitals/healthcare for a lot of alcohol related problems and we've seen the long term effects in a much more open way.

Do we really have similar amounts of statistics and data available to analyse the impact of, say, daily pot use on mental health etc as yet or are we going to see in 20/30/40 years that the impacts are as bad/worse?
 
princedpw said:
It's an interesting question as to whether all drugs, no matter how toxic should be legal, but dispensed in a controlled way through the government.  (Heroin? Meth? Fentanyl?)

Yeah, I think the things we're pretty sure on though is that making a drug legal or not legal doesn't substantially impact the use of that drug so long as there's already demand. All you do by making a drug illegal is raise the cost which leads to crime springing up around it, both in terms of its distribution and in order to raise funds for its black market purchase.

I think there are certain drugs that are dangerous enough just in their use or so physically addictive that the government has a responsibility to make sure they're used properly but I've never seen a compelling argument that drug use should be handled as a criminal or even legal issue vs. a public health issue.

What's interesting is that this is one of those areas where my progressive tendencies(effective government policy + government regulation of markets) dovetail nicely with my libertarian ones. Despite it's medicinal properties, I don't think marijuana is good for you and so I don't think you should use it frequently but I feel the same way about alcohol and cheeseburgers and I don't think the government should tell me I can't have those if I want to.

We should be informed about the realities of that use, again as a public health matter, but as Adults in a free society we can make bad choices.
 
I'm burning this country to the ground if they regulate my cheeseburger consumption!

I'm not much of a libertarian, but I agree wholly with your argument on this issue, Nik. Most drugs can be harmful if abused and I do believe the government has a responsibility to control it's distribution. But, I don't think using or possession should be a criminal matter. Theft, distribution, etc. that come along with that should continue to be illegal.

I just wish everyone could be honest about what marijuana is and what it isn't. It's a recreational drug that has some medicinal properties. It's not a miracle drug; it doesn't cure cancer, autism, arthritis, etc. It is also harmful, particularly when inhaled.

I don't judge anyone for using it (at least 1/4 of my friends do, some on a very regular basis.) I judge those who justify its use through so many different false claims. Why not just say: "I like getting high." I have no problem with that.
 
Arn said:
Bender said:
Frycer14 said:
princedpw said:
Frycer14 said:
I'd have much preferred that it went the decriminalization route vs legalization.

Why is that?  If it is legalized, then the organized crime that disseminates it will cease to exist, government can profit and the contents of the substances can be controlled, ideally decreasing the number of overdoses.  Decriminalization doesnt seem to have the same benefits.

I won't argue that there won't be disadvantages.
If alcohol and pot were discovered today at the same time alcohol would be made illegal and pot be made legal. The negative impact of alcohol far outweighs the negative impact of pot.

Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk

Is that really true? Obviously what we have the benefit of is the stats and facts and figures that are available as people go to hospitals/healthcare for a lot of alcohol related problems and we've seen the long term effects in a much more open way.

Do we really have similar amounts of statistics and data available to analyse the impact of, say, daily pot use on mental health etc as yet or are we going to see in 20/30/40 years that the impacts are as bad/worse?
Even just simple evidence shows this, especially in short term outcomes. How many times have you seen a brawl at a bar happen over alcohol? Aggressive behaviour, drunk driving, nevermind alcohol poisoning. No marijuana OD death, not the same level of drunk driving vs pot driving, highly unlikely a fight or aggression will occur. I'm not saying marijuana doesn't have risk, but you almost never hear of a death immediately related to marijuana whereas alcohol is a contributing factor in many deaths - that's just a fact. Alcohol is the seventh leading cause of death worldwide and a major contributing factor to all sorts of cancers.

It's possible that if the roles were reversed maybe you'd see something similar in marijuana but since they have different effects on the body I somehow doubt it. There are studies showing the degree of risk while driving stoned (because we are doing a role reversal here), while not good, is still lower than that of alcohol.

Absolutely we don't have enough long term studies on the effects of cannabis on humans vs what we have on alcohol, but alcohol seems so unequivocally bad (unless you're having a glass of wine with dinner) (and along with tobacco if drug harm/addiction charts are anything to also go by) that it's hard for me to believe Cannabis could be as bad or worse than alcohol.
 
Weird, the day before legalization and they are shutting down all the weed shops out here, seems the have been selling without permits for all this time using some sort of loophole in the law and now they have to have legal permits, which have not been issued as they didn't have a system in place to grant permits.
So on the day pot becomes legal in Canada, you will not be able to buy it for the first time in months. 
 
Highlander said:
Weird, the day before legalization and they are shutting down all the weed shops out here, seems the have been selling without permits for all this time using some sort of loophole in the law and now they have to have legal permits, which have not been issued as they didn't have a system in place to grant permits.
So on the day pot becomes legal in Canada, you will not be able to buy it for the first time in months.

Well, you will be able to order it Online (in Ontario at least).
 
On the eve of legalization I think it's important to keep in mind that this is a question that very much can split down along lines that reinforce problematic divisions within society.

On Thanksgiving me, my siblings and some cousins briefly discussed the pending legalization but from a fairly light-hearted stance of how we all had some funny stories about trying to buy pot while it was illegal and how the upcoming generation won't have any of those experiences. While it was true, I think it's still important not to simply frame this issue in terms of getting high or even about access to cannabis.

Because, really, as an urban white person of moderate means the prohibition of cannabis only ever really meant higher prices and funny stories for me. The only time law enforcement ever entered the picture was once in university when a friend was arrested by campus police and released the next morning. Realistically the "penalties" of it were never likely to touch me.

But we know that isn't true for everyone. People have been arrested and sent to prison for simple possession. And we know that black people and natives were over-represented in those cases despite cannabis usage being fairly similar across racial divides.

So, again, I know a lot of the focus will be on marijuana use once it's legalized but I really think it's important to keep in mind that this is really about having laws that more accurately reflect our values and a justice system that's more just. With any luck the government can move forward on further steps to rectify decades of bad policy by granting amnesty for anyone with possession convictions on their record.
 
Coco-puffs said:
Highlander said:
Weird, the day before legalization and they are shutting down all the weed shops out here, seems the have been selling without permits for all this time using some sort of loophole in the law and now they have to have legal permits, which have not been issued as they didn't have a system in place to grant permits.
So on the day pot becomes legal in Canada, you will not be able to buy it for the first time in months.

Well, you will be able to order it Online (in Ontario at least).

Exactly - and by design this is the only method - no "shops" are supposed to be open at all until way into next year.  We have all had these little shops appear in our towns and closed a few weeks later.  Whatever they are selling has not been approved by any agency as safe for use.  I would like my groceries to undergo some sort of checks, I should think anyone ingesting anything into their bodies would vote in favour of this too?
 
Well, never let be said that I am not willing to be part of the grand societal experiment. I just bought 10 grams of pot from the Government, as is my legal right to do so as a free person of legal standing.

I still won't smoke it but, you know, part of history and all that.
 
Nik the Trik said:
Well, never let be said that I am not willing to be part of the grand societal experiment. I just bought 10 grams of pot from the Government, as is my legal right to do so as a free person of legal standing.

I still won't smoke it but, you know, part of history and all that.
Thank you for your service.
 
Heroic Shrimp said:
Nik the Trik said:
Well, never let be said that I am not willing to be part of the grand societal experiment. I just bought 10 grams of pot from the Government, as is my legal right to do so as a free person of legal standing.

I still won't smoke it but, you know, part of history and all that.
Thank you for your service.

Hey, in this day and age I will take my pride in progressive achievements where I can.
 
Nik the Trik said:
Well, never let be said that I am not willing to be part of the grand societal experiment. I just bought 10 grams of pot from the Government, as is my legal right to do so as a free person of legal standing.

I still won't smoke it but, you know, part of history and all that.

Gonna bake with it? 
 
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