Opium for the masses in a sense. Just what the poor needed. Live life in a stupor to numb it's hardships. This won't sit well with industry. So tell me, will it fly for the employed or only the homeless and jobless?
2
What's more dangerous, pot or booze?
I never heard of a person who had just smoked some weed driving the wrong way up a highway and colliding head-on, or running down some pedestrians crossing a street. With booze you hear that every day.
At least we're leaning toward dropping the fiction that "medical" marijuana is the cure-all for almost everything.
Admit it, you just like to get high. Food tastes better, music sounds great, (after all much of it is made by people who indulge), and then there's the sex. Ahh,
2
Ian - Nice article, but have to take issue with the part regarding the manufacturer of extraction systems in Charlottetown, P.E. Usually, machines of this type are in the $50-60,000 range. That would give him top-end revenue of $1,080,000. liberally. If hos cost of goods sold, (COGS) is a good 50% , that leaves him with $540,000 to run the company with all of the other expenses involved. Assuming 30% of the remaining goes to non-salary costs, which is low, that leaves him with roughly $400,000 to fund salary and fringe benefits for 14 staff - mostly engineers. No way that's happening.
1
I don't use it but I'm excited because I support people's right to use it if they desire!
This is not a new billion dollar industry. The amount of money spent on trying to prevent it,(though unsuccessful) exceeds what money will be made in the next several years. We shouldn't make more of this than what it is already. People have been getting high for decades and longer. The fact that it can be bought legally doesn't change the fact that people are already smoking it. It is very easy to obtain on the streets with the proceeds ultimately ending up to drug cartels.
4
@Becky
Legalization means closing down the black market and creating a regulated taxed system. Why not have the revenue flow into useful purposes instead of an illegal hole were nothing is gained?
7
Recreational marijuana, next will be recreational cocaine, and last recreational heroin. Anything else we need to OK for our children to smoke or swallow?
I encourage you to look into Portugal's 2001 move to decriminalize all drugs. It turns out, after almost two decades of decriminalization, that the most harmful effects of drugs were caused by their criminalization and social stigma.
Cocaine and methamphetamine aren't good for you, but millions of children and adults consume regulated amphetamines every day (at least here in the US). Turns out it's safer for a doctor to prescribe a controlled dose of a dangerous drug than for someone to get it off the street. Not to mention, if you get your amphetamines from the pharmacy, you don't need to worry about some middle-man cutting the drug with something even more dangerous / addictive.
10
manoflamancha
I think your your personal paranoia is a greater danger than legalizing a largely benign mood enhancer and pain reducer.
Alcohol is also a much more dangerous drug than cannabis.
Relax and enjoy.
Everything's gonna' be alright.
8
Will the price of marijuana fall dramatically, now that it can be manufactured? It's just a plant, that grows like a weed.
For people who use the drug regularly, the economic impact on their lives takes a serious toll, to some degree as serious as the criminality of the drug has done. I volunteer in a jail in a legal states, and have met a number of inmates, who committed petty crimes to support a chronic habit of upwards of an ounce a week, (which costs from $180 to $400 in legal states).
There are people who smoke weed like cigarettes. I know that grass is not seriously physically addicting but it is definitely habit forming. A constant state of intoxication can be problematic enough, without the crippling economic impact.
I assume vendors will want to continue the boutique merchandizing so prevalent in the USA as a justification for price. But I bet that a lot of users would be very happy with the equivalent of a boxed wine weed.
3
Very interesting how this is happening just as beer may be set to get more expensive due to climate change. Also one wonders if the Canadian climate will get more conducive for such a crop in the bargain.
3
While I am very happy this is finally happening, I think the people expecting a big cash grab out of all of this are going to be deeply disappointed. They can only keep the price at the same or higher prices than the black market for so long.
7
Canada just won the drug war. Congratulations to our sane neighbors to the north!
27
The photos look "professional" but let's get real about what this is. This plant is a weed, that's one of it's nicknames "weed". It's exceedingly easy to grow.
Any state in the Midwest could produce twice as much marijuana on the same land it now grows corn. In short the price of Marijuana is going nowhere but down.
Invest in Canadian stock if you like, but don't hold onto it too long. They are cultivating it inside under artificial light because Canada is so far North and the growing season is so short there. Also to keep it from being stolen while the price is still high. But in a few years if the US legalizes it like Canada, no one is any more likely to bother stealing your pot than your corn.
The beauty of this truth is that when Marijuana is just everywhere and there's an enormous glut, organized crime will have no reason to sell it at all and that will reduce crime related to distribution and money laundering effortlessly.
21
Good luck getting weed legalized in the US, your legal system is stacked with conservatives, the GOP is over run with bible thumpers that don’t believe in science, and your President only cares about industries that affect his families business interests. I think Canada has a good run ahead of itself on this one.
14
@Arthur Thanks for the lesson in geography and crop science. You are right that the price of pot will come dowen as cultivation becaomes more widespread. But you are out to lunch when you say Canada is too far north to grow a lot of pot.
Yes, Canada lies north of the U.S. of A, but we don't all live in igloos and wear snowshoes year 'round. Large areas of Canada and south of the 49th parallel, and farmers here grow an astounding variety of crops. Marijuana is now among them. BTW . . . the big producers do so in green houses to prevent theft, but also to ensure quality and in hopes of reducing loss to insect pests, birds, and other critters, also botanical diseases.
4
As a liberal Canadian, I am utterly appalled that the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau has legalised marijuana. Too many questions regarding its safe use hang in the balance: why, for example, is inhaling tobacco smoke toxic and socially perverse, according to previous government campaigns against the tobacco industry, yet ganga smoke is perfectly harmless and will not belabour our healthcare apparatus? Many industries, furthermore, lack an adequate policy towards marijuana use among workers because the effects of its use over short and term is not at all understood. There is no benchmark whereby anyone can be judged to be legally impaired, unlike alcohol. My wife is a rheumatologist and tells me that one in four patients or so make an appointment with her with the express intention of seeking a prescription for medical marijuana without providing suitable symptoms to justify its dispensation.
In short, Canada’s population is not mature or restrained enough to have legal access to previously illicit drugs. I’ve witnessed on myriad occasions the mind altering effects of marijuana on individuals and am of the opinion that a nation of stoners is a disastrous outcome. Sadly, this may be the defining political act of Trudeau’s tenure as PM as he has achieved very little else except providing a photogenic profile for the rest of the world who love our Boy Wonder in the same way it loved Obama while not having to live under their respective ineffectiveness.
11
My thoughts exactly! Brilliantly written.
@Marcus Brant
1
My thoughts exactly! Brilliantly written.
@Marcus Brant
As to the questions about toxicity...well, thats not the right word, neither tobacco nor weed is toxic, but if you mean carcinogenic? The core difference really comes down to volume, inhaling smoke and ash is of course bad, no matter the source, however, tobacco smokers smoke far FAR more for a number of reasons. A heavy tobacco user is 20+ cigarettes a day, whereas the heaviest of marijuana smokers is using less than a quarter of that.
Impairment is hard to gauge because it effects people so differently, but the U.S. does have some standards for driving while high canada could adopt, they aren't perfect, but its a start, generally though, impairment is pretty minor and comparable, at worst, to the impairment from lack of sleep. Its not near as pronounced as pop culture would suggest.
Research is admittedly lacking as to long term affects, thanks to research itself being largely prohibited the last half century, but to again turn to alcohol and tobacco, we KNOW those have severe long term affects, likely more severe than those posed by marijuana, and we allow, but discourage their use by adults, so its hard to argue that, it should be kept from children, but adults should be allowed to make bad decisions for themselves as with anything else.
Finally...as to nation of stoners, after 6 years of legal weed in Colorado very little has changed culturally, use doesn't seem up, just those who do use have no need to fear the law. So nothing to worry about.
11
I’m out here in Santa Cruz studying ultra high end cannabis with the California Bud Company. A few weeks ago I was up in Eureka with Papa and Barkley. All amazing terroir driven cannabis companies.
But up in Canada they’ve removed the stigma. One thing they’ll never be able to do with Just Say No folks in my home state of New Jersey and home rule firmly in place.
Better get a case of Bud Light. It’s ok to drink it all at once. Just don’t smoke cannabis. Remember, It’s a gateway drug.
And Canada is light years ahead of us.
10
@Warren Bobrow
It has actually been a gateway drug, but only because the criminality associated with it, brings users into contact with illicit and anti social behaviors. I would assume that alcohol was a gateway drug during prohibition as well.
6
What I read is that the small growers are going to be shut out of the system. The guys that were doing this with one natural crop a year, outdoors and organic, are going to be replaced by mega farms using massive amounts of energy, fertilizer and pesticides.
Not anything I want to smoke.
8
@rich & talia
For a majority of people I have talked to this is about justice more than the product.
3
The Canadian government unleashed the legalization of marijuana without adequate thought, laws, and planning. Of course, the big thought behind the legalization was money the government thinks it will reap from the sale of this drug.
The industry is sprouting special marijuana lawyers to fight the fines and issues that will befall Canadians. The legalization is not going to be as easy as Junior Trudeau says it will.Be careful what you wish for!
3
What is not mentioned (of course) is that the biggest promoters of legalization are a handful of very wealthy folks with links to Big Ag & Big Pharma. Leading the charge is George Soros, "a major shareholder in Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company & producer of genetically modified seeds. Monsanto is the biotech giant that brought you Agent Orange, DDT, PCBs, dioxin-based pesticides, aspartame, rBGH (genetically engineered bovine growth hormone), RoundUp (glyphosate) herbicides, & RoundUp Ready crops (seeds genetically engineered to withstand glyphosate). Monsanto now appears to be developing genetically modified (GMO) forms of cannabis, with the intent of cornering the market with patented GMO seeds just as it did with GMO corn & GMO soybeans. For that, the plant would need to be legalized but still tightly enough controlled that it could be captured by big corporate interests. Competition could be suppressed by limiting access to homegrown marijuana; bringing production, sale & use within monitored & regulated industry guidelines; & legislating a definition of industrial hemp as a plant having such low psychoactivity that only GMO versions qualify. Those are the sorts of conditions that critics have found buried in the fine print of the latest initiatives for cannabis legalization," according to Ellen Brown of Global Research.
This is denied by Monsanto, of course…as well as Soros.
Legalization is good. For Big Pharma/Ag. Not the small user and grower - as usual.
7
The United States is going to permanently cede commercial marijuana leadership to Canada, if it doesn't act quickly and nationally legalize recreational marijuana. This is not about jobs, tax revenue and trade deficits.
5
Please! It is a weed. My guess is, should the US legalize it, Canada will have to erect trade barriers to protect its marijuana farmers from the flood of weed as it does its dairy farmers. The trade maybe a part of NAFTA 3.0.
Just a friendly reminder, everyone, that this plant is easy to grow for yourself. Just a few fully budded female plants (like three or four) will provide a year's worth or more for personal use. Don't give in to corporate greed on this one too.
19
@tony NJ bill as currently written keeps homegrow very illegal.
Limited home grow for medical patients at least, NJ.
2
Great for US tourists - now they will load up on cheap medications and cheap cannabis.
7
@rudolf
Yeh, right!
The penalties if you get caught at the U.S> border is going to be severe - both for Americans returning and for any Canadians being caught having smoked or bringing drugs across the border!
They are just learning now that there's money in the drug trade?
3
@adrianne - big ag and pharma have been in the loop for years. Don't let them fool you - huge profits are to be made by growing and controlling the distribution of weed.
1
Spirits manufacturers in the states are still lobbying hard against federal-level legalization and some state legalization. They provide a competing product and see their revenue dive in areas where pot is legalized.
.
One thing we can look forward to if marijuana replaces a lot of beer consumption in the coming years - fewer blackout-level drunks on the road. It's almost not possible to get 12-pack level blitzed with any quantity of pot.
9
The CBC Vancouver bureau has just announced that The British Columbia Ministry of Finance will price legal cannabis between $7 and $14 CDN (that's about $5.40 to $10.82 USD) per gram.
My family does not partake so not sure if this 'BC Bud' price would be considered a bargain to our American neighbours.
Nevertheless, we are keen in our family to see the tax benefits going to Victoria (provincially) and Ottawa (federally), rather than to beastly criminals which has been the case in Canada.
16
Most new businesses fail, and this is true even of cannabis businesses. Investors should do their due diligence.
3
I'm sorry, I realize this news story is about about Canada but I cannot understand how adding another psychoactive drug to a culture with an opiate addiction epidemic, alcohol related whatever, with the recent rescheduling of Hydrocodone to a Schedule II drug, self medication w/prescriptions ( ambien ) then add in meth, coke, X, G, B, cigs etc... can be healthy decision. I understand medicinal use, but for a GOVERNMENT to endorse M for all uses? The only reason to use it ( outside of medicinal) is a TO PRODUCE EUPHORIA, TO GET HIGH. The use of this drug over time will become a crutch for a number of its users. Then think about physiology issues. Ohhhhhh, Canada.
4
It's very hard to argue that marijuana is entirely harmless, but it is clearly much less harmful to both the user and society at large than alcohol. In the entire history of the planet, no one has ever smoked a joint and then gone home and beaten up his wife and kids. It happens thousands of times a day in Canada and, of course, many more times in the US. So if you're worried about a proliferation of recreational drugs, you should be advocating the legalization of pot and the banning of alcohol.
11
Well then I surmise that you would like a ban on alcohol containing beverages.
6
@Kyle
Opioid use goes down in states that have legal marijuana. I'd say that using pot is a far cry better than using oxycontin
The positive recognition of cannabis sativa has taken a long time to move into the mainstream. That Canada has taken the initiative to legalize and control the weed, turning distribution and consumption into a business instead of a crime, shows our neighbor is far ahead of the provincials leading this nation.
Perhaps the tardiness has a lot to do with how anti-drug enforcement has become increasingly key to US racial policies and growth of the criminal justice system.
Legalization could very well paralyze the system and literally put thousands from cops to courts on unemployment. Increasing resources were put into law enforcement to support the ill-advised war on drugs, which in reality turned into a way to control minorities as the civil rights movement started empowering blacks much to the fears of the threatened white power structure.
Before this country can legalize it has to come to some reckoning with the countless lives lost or destroyed enforcing anti-drug laws. Those who are still able should receive pardons and compensation, even job opportunities, from the projected economic boost legalization is expected to produce.
The big question: if pot does go legal, what new ways will the system find to criminalize minorities--both race and class.
23
Maybe legalization will spur research into the drug’s medicinal potential. Watch “For the Life of Me: Between Science and the Law.” It is now available on Amazon and free with Prime.
https://www.amazon.com/Life-Me-Between-Science-Law/dp/B076VY146W
@Diana C. Frank - the medical and pharmaceutical industry has been aware of pot's benefits since the 1930's. It was banned sometime back then because hemp-based products threatened the newly formed plastics industries that were creating petroleum-based products. Hemp was renewable, less expensive and had more use and applications. It's was all about money - as it still is.
10
Maybe legalization will spur research into the medicinal potential of the drug. The film “For the Life of me: Between Science and the Law” makes that point in a heartbreaking way. If would be to medicine’s advantage if the USA followed Canada’s example.
3
Like it or don't, legal recreational marijuana is the wave of the future. It's about to be legal in New Jersey and Massachusetts, and everybody should know, this means it has to become legal in New York too, because there will be no way to stop its transportation across borders.
What a lot of people probably don't realize is that we New Yorkers who enjoy using cannabis have been gradually switching over to legally produced weed, generally in edible form or as vapes. It's just illegally getting to us from California, Nevada, Colorado, and so on.
And ya know, it's a lot better than the old illegally produced stuff, more consistent and with extremely definite dosages. Looking forward to it becoming legal here, cutting out the middleman.
I'm sure its legalization will cause no problems in Canada, just as it has caused no problems in any state that's legalized it so far. Hopefully it brings down the rate of people addicted to harder drugs, because it's not marijuana that's killing tens of thousands every year, it's opioids.
58
Sing it, Danny Boy !
6
Ever see the movie "Love and Mercy"? In it Brian Wilson explains that to thoroughly enjoy his "Pet Sounds" album you need to do a doob, slip on some headphones, turn off the lights and put on the record.
Great music the way it was meant to be heard.
10
Despite the pearl clutching going on here, I predict that at midnight...absolutely nothing will change. Except of course a lot of drug dealers and criminals will be looking for new jobs. Oh yeah, and jail costs will go down. Cheers!
32
Lenny Bruce joked in the 60's that pot would someday be legal because college kids and law students smoked it, and that they would be the legislators of the future who would legalize it to protect themselves. Very prescient!
44
OH CANNABIS! My home and native land...
27
Well played, Phillip !
5
As an 81 year old, I have rarely had anything to do with cannabis because of the legal consequences in the USA. However, last year in Oregon where it is now legal, I had intense pain in my right hand and asked my wife for her cannabis salve that she used for pain to her knees and legs. I applied it to the outside of my hand and the pain went away within five minutes. It was like a miracle if you have ever suffered intense pain.
I was duly impressed and see the possibilities for healing and pain reduction in many areas. The main question and feeling of bewilderment is, "Why have the governments of both Canada and the USA not had cannabis available as a major pain reducer and medicine for the past fifty years?" Another example of where the people were way ahead of the supposed elected leadership in both countries.
68
Thank you, David Michael.
The ugly racist, regressive American history of cannabis falls in the lap of the reprehensible Harry Anslinger who recklessly demonized and criminalized marijuana and ruined millions of minority lives because of it.
https://www.cannabis.info/en/blog/harry-j-anslinger-15-ridiculous-quotes...
Thank goodness conservatism is being flushed down the political toilet.
33
@David Michael: rhetorical question, David: "Why have the governments of both Canada and the USA not had cannabis available as a major pain reducer and medicine for the past fifty years?"
Answer: the pharmaceutical and medical industries who won't profit from its legalization - unless they can control it at all stages of growth, pricing and distribution.
12
The pharmaceutical companies have lobbied against it. Follow the money. It always comes down to money. Always.
5
Ever since being aware of the drug, and the only way for students and others in college and beyond to get it in the 1960s, the question of taking the criminal aspect out of it would make it cheaper, and also in an instant remove the gangs and violence from the control of distribution.
Now it seems that making it legal but taxing it as much as possible and heavy controlling legislation so burdensome as to even now make that analysis impossible.
With taxation adding to the cost, we may never know.
1
Our backwards politicians of both parties will probably need another 25 years to catch up with the rest of the world.
32
It's a bit silly to see and hear some people talk as if this were something new. Anyone that has wanted to smoke/ingest cannabis has been doing so for many years. Yes, there will be attractive tax revenues and business opportunities, BUT the hyperbolic statements about this plant's economic positives won't happen if the consumer price is too high. THAT cannot be excused. It really is a weed.
The biggest social positive I see is the removal of law enforcement from having anything to do with cannabis production, distribution and possession. The failed "war on drugs"(and other events, to be sure) has damaged society to the extent people do not trust law enforcement. That needs to be repaired, if possible.
28
I’m flabbergasted, obviously Justin Trudeau never grew up or lived in a drug addled household where occupants hit the stuff before noon. Highly addictive brain damaging personality warping chemicals... and look forward to driving fatalities.... bravo not. Anyone who denies this doesn’t really know what heavy use can do.
1
@Dac
Everything you say is tendentious.
3
Dac,
A huge % of the population already partake.
Ca. with it's 40 million citizens has had legal Med. M for almost 23 yrs.
Where is all this carnage you predict?
Quit with the Reefer Madness propaganda.
It is a lie.
The worst thing about cannabis is our criminal justice system and ignorant scolds shilling prohibition.
Don't like cannabis? Don't use it.
MYOB~!
3
@Dac
Undoubtedly you favor the re-prohibition of alcohol based on your comment. Not everyone who likes to toke is a heavy user any more than someone who like a beer is an alcoholic.
Of course getting stoned before noon and driving anytime on the stuff isn't what responsible people do. The issue is that we don't penalize everyone for what some people may decide to do.
18
If marijuana is so good for you why is the employee wearing a mask? They must drown it in pesticides also. Then you wonder why your brains shrink on it and people in Colorado were beating people up while on the toxic drug. It is like alcohol no health benefit just a brain shrinker.
D.j.j.k.
That's an indoor grow house; I doubt there is much need for pesticides in an indoor grow house....the main incredients are soil, seeds, sun and fertilizer.
Your demonization of this mild mood enhancer, which is much less harmful than alcohol, suggests you have been brainwashed by Jeff Sessions.
Marijuana is not toxic and it causes people to relax and eat, not to beat up each other up.
Alcohol is the violent 'drug'.
48
@D.j.j.k.the mask is required by safety standards....you don't have to use pesticides you can grow organic....there is no proof that pot causes anyone to get violent or that it has a negative effect on the brain......any negative info out there is from the alcohol lobby or crazy religious people...………
7
Legal cannabis farms generally do not use pesticides. One purpose of the masks in an enclosed space is hygiene. It has nothing to do with something toxic, as you imply. Additionally, you will find that outdoor growers do not wear masks. Please try talking to people who have actual experience with growing and using cannabis, rather than relying on fear and propaganda.
40
California's medical marijuana legalization has been running since 1996.
For better or worse (I think better) cannabis has been widely available with a doctor's prescription card. This didn't inhibit folk who weren't using the drug as medicine; the cards were easy to get. Besides, cannabis use over the centuries is popular for relieving stress and anxiety and promoting self reflection. Much "recreational" cannabis is "medical use" one could effectively argue.
That law also made legal the growing of small amounts for personal use, in my view, an ancillary benefit beyond just buying it. Growing things is good. Learning to grow things can be exciting and deeply rewarding...
To lose this, to protect the profits of Big Canna, with all it's factories and lights and fans and soluble fertilizers and anti-mold sprays and all season growing and huge expenditures of energy....is just wrong on many levels.
Legalization of Cannabis is a step forward. And a broad encouragement to learn how to grow a couple of patio plants yourself, is a further step forward yet.
22
I'm rather shocked that the allure of tax dollars hasn't been able to sway politicians in the US to embrace legalized marijuana yet. The tide of public opinion is certainly swinging in favor of it and it seems an inevitability.
3
David,
It is starting...
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-villaraigosa-medmen-20180829-story...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/11/us/politics/boehner-cannabis-marijuan...
https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/pro-marijuana-politicians-who-chang...
2
Come west, young man. It’s already legal from Colorado to California to Washington, with no issues and hundreds or millions of new tax dollars.
4
The Canadian government should be congratulated for this inspired decision, but the transition to legalization is not going smoothly.
Many quasi legal medical marijuana clinics are closing down, leaving many users without a source (although Nelson City Council gave ours a three month reprieve).
Edibles will remain illegal until October next year, a strange decision given that edibles are the safest way of ingesting MJ.
Still, I feel like having a toke outside the Mounties' police station.
18
@Ambrose Edible suppliers online are out there in Canada if you look hard enough!
@Ambrose Meet you there at 12:01.
With the plethora of drugs on the market including many toxic ones like alcohol, nicotine, opioids and many other dangerous pharmaceuticals, cannabis is starting to take its rightful place in a free marketplace where adults can choose their "poison." Still it is a little sad to see big business jumping into the void. I am old enough to wallow in the nostalgia of dime bags full of stems and seeds and colorful names like Maui Wowee!
6
@Chuck Burton
There was never a void here in Canada for marijuana. The government stepped in for the huge amount of tax money that the drug will bring in. Of course, the cost per gram has been set high, and the illegal market will still be around.
My interest in marijuana stocks started last October when I read an article about Canopy Growth, I had no idea that such an investment was available. My first purchase was for several thousand shares, when the stock was initially listed on the OTC market, now it's on the NYSE. For me personally, I believe in the healing capabilities of medical marijuana which I have been on for two years due to chronic pain in my legs and feet. Since I live in New York State I first had to find a doctor who is authorized to prescribe medical marijuana, then I had to sign up for a NYS medical marijuana ID card which was easily accomplished online. After I received my ID card, I found a medical marijuana dispensary not too far from where I live that provided me with what my doctor authorized. For me, it has reduced my chronic pain, but not entirely. The only "down side" is that Medicare and private insurance do not pay for medical marijuana. Not even the VA since I am a veteran.
To date, I have purchased stock in nine different Canadian based companies. It is the only time in my life I have purchased individual stocks, versus mutual funds. I am somewhat optimistic that in the long run it will be a good investment .... and not go up "in smoke".
29
@Vietnam Veteran
Seriously, thank you for purchasing stock in Canadian/Canadien companies. Very much appreciated.
12
Looking forward to having my Canadian marijuana-infused coffee tomorrow.
Marijuana: It's Not Just For Smokers Anymore®
Enjoy.
26
I wouldn't invest in this unless it could be assured that Black Market cannabis could be eliminated. A very, very hard thing to do.
In California, black market MJ remains a staunch and cheaper competitor to the legal stuff. Additionally, for personal use, cannabis is very easy to grow regardless all the hype about perfect soils and conditions. In many places, and particularly for outdoor growing, folk will soon find that its no harder than common garden vegetables.
Canada's optimism is apparently based on the predication that they indeed can ferret out illegal growing, and the thought that some Provinces ban home growing altogether is just repulsive.
"You MUST purchase your cannabis and you must purchase it from us" is pretty draconian given the 10,000 year history of folk growing it; here, there, nowadays everywhere...
Do you grow tomatoes? Peppers or squashes? Annual flowers? Cannabis is as easy as these with just a bit of experience. Commercial growers, legal or illegal are very much concerned with harvest volume/expenditure. But a home grower of cannabis isn't so concerned with this for family and friends use. Not being strapped to large harvests makes everything much easier.
I thought Canada was hipper than restricting a relatively harmless and beneficial plant that humans have a great affection for, and is easily grown in a multitude of climates either urban or rural.
For these reasons I question such rosy perspectives from the Canadians.
9
@Nelly I have a few friends who grow their own cannabis using clones they bought at local dispensaries, but not everyone has the time or the space or the desire to do the same. It's still early days for the recreational biz here in Cali, as you know, so it will take some time to work out the kinks. There's a shortage of testing labs, for instance, but it's good to know that the cannabis available at the local shop has to be tested and labeled for quality and safety. Much of the black-market weed is grown using pesticides.
6
Harmless?, well documented to trigger psychosis in suspectable individuals.
@John Conroy
Thanks John, and I agree that growing a bit yourself is not possible for many. And yes, these laws are young and may be reasonably amended.
I've lived in a place where cannabis has been grown commonly and illicitly for more than 50 years. With that maturity, this culture now gives much cannabis away, just like you do with tomatoes or peppers or other common veges. It's no big deal.
This is what the hippies meant when they exhorted, "Free the Weed!" Their impulse was correct; it's a common and easily cultivated plant that shouldn't cost much.
I am in that camp. The common-ness of cannabis should make it very inexpensive, though no less wonderful for some people. In my perfect world, one of your buddies could grow some and share with you!
Ultimately, I would think that Big Canna will try to eliminate home growing for personal use, because if they don't, user grown reefer will dig massively into their profit which is propped on artificially high prices right now.
This is the ONLY reason that cannabis will become tolerated and legalized for recreational use-HUGE PROFITS. Massive.
There are radio ads pushing future shares in stocks related to the future sales of cannabis in the US. For better or worse, it's coming, much sooner than we think. Everyone will soon want to be on the 'Green' train. Canada is way ahead of us in so many ways. Good on them. It will surely increase tourist revenues.
21
Perhaps this is the way forward to end the war on drugs: legalize and regulate. I think the cannabis model can be applied to all illegal drugs, but we must tread slowly. Research, transparency and oversight are vital in these markets. Safety must be addressed from all angles.
1
@Bun Mam You are correct. Portugal did this in 2002 (!), and shifted their resources from law enforcement to health services, where they belong (regarding drug use and abuse). They've been successful, but you won't hear about that in our "free press".
5