on December 23, 2014
Medical authorities support legalizing marijuana
Smoke it, toke it, vape it, eat it – marijuana, it seems, is going mainstream.
This is what Marc Emery had to say:
Marc Emery, the self-styled “Prince of Pot” who returned to Canada in August after more than four years serving a U.S. prison sentence for selling cannabis seeds to Americans, says the city he calls home offers a good model for the rest of the country.
“Vancouver right now is closest to how legalization would look in many ways than any of the legal jurisdictions like Washington State or Colorado or even Alaska and Oregon,” he says.
“The reason I say that is because we have very little crime related to marijuana use, and yet we have over 60 dispensaries now selling marijuana and most of them sell 10 to 20 different varieties, and it’s priced cheaper in Vancouver than any other place in the western hemisphere.”
In Vancouver, a gram of weed sells for $5 on average; next-door in Washington state, the same quantity goes for $28 in government licensed stores, says Emery, whose Cannabis Culture store peddles pot and related products.
While marijuana remains illegal, he says there seems to be a detente with Vancouver police, who tend to look the other way when it comes to simple possession.
“The results are in – there’s very little social negative byproduct as a rule of this proliferating marijuana market. It attracts nice tourists, it attracts people from the rest of the province, it provides a lot of cash to the neighbourhoods and everybody’s very well-behaved because no one wants to rock that boat.”
Politically, the normalization of marijuana was also given a boost last year when federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau came out in favour of legalization, a position met with a flurry of attacks by the Harper government, which has remained steadfast in its opposition to softening the law.
While the New Democrats want to see decriminalization, Justice Minister Peter MacKay has said his Conservative government is considering stricter enforcement of marijuana laws, including possibly making possession of small quantities of dope a ticketing offence.
The pollster Bozinoff believes the Tories are out of step on the issue.
“I think they thought they had caught Justin Trudeau in a gotcha moment. They made a big deal over the whole marijuana thing, and no one cared, as the numbers showed.”
Indeed, the government’s change in medical marijuana regulations, which designates licensed producers to supply the drug via a doctor’s prescription, has also bolstered the argument for legalization because proponents can point to a specific example of Canadians who’ve been given legal access, he says.
“If you legalize it or you don’t legalize it, it will be even wider used,” he says. “Right now, we already have 42 per cent of all Ontarians below 30 using it. If you look at lifetime prevalence, it’s in the 70s (per cent).
“This is a normalized behaviour. It may be officially prohibited, but it is what most young people at some point in their lives have experienced and this is to some point irreversible.”
Full Story: https://www.facebook.com/Canadian420nurses
Laurie Canadian420
Smoke it, toke it, vape it, eat it – marijuana, it seems, is going mainstream.
This is what Marc Emery had to say:
Marc Emery, the self-styled “Prince of Pot” who returned to Canada in August after more than four years serving a U.S. prison sentence for selling cannabis seeds to Americans, says the city he calls home offers a good model for the rest of the country.
“Vancouver right now is closest to how legalization would look in many ways than any of the legal jurisdictions like Washington State or Colorado or even Alaska and Oregon,” he says.
“The reason I say that is because we have very little crime related to marijuana use, and yet we have over 60 dispensaries now selling marijuana and most of them sell 10 to 20 different varieties, and it’s priced cheaper in Vancouver than any other place in the western hemisphere.”
In Vancouver, a gram of weed sells for $5 on average; next-door in Washington state, the same quantity goes for $28 in government licensed stores, says Emery, whose Cannabis Culture store peddles pot and related products.
While marijuana remains illegal, he says there seems to be a detente with Vancouver police, who tend to look the other way when it comes to simple possession.
“The results are in – there’s very little social negative byproduct as a rule of this proliferating marijuana market. It attracts nice tourists, it attracts people from the rest of the province, it provides a lot of cash to the neighbourhoods and everybody’s very well-behaved because no one wants to rock that boat.”
Politically, the normalization of marijuana was also given a boost last year when federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau came out in favour of legalization, a position met with a flurry of attacks by the Harper government, which has remained steadfast in its opposition to softening the law.
While the New Democrats want to see decriminalization, Justice Minister Peter MacKay has said his Conservative government is considering stricter enforcement of marijuana laws, including possibly making possession of small quantities of dope a ticketing offence.
The pollster Bozinoff believes the Tories are out of step on the issue.
“I think they thought they had caught Justin Trudeau in a gotcha moment. They made a big deal over the whole marijuana thing, and no one cared, as the numbers showed.”
Indeed, the government’s change in medical marijuana regulations, which designates licensed producers to supply the drug via a doctor’s prescription, has also bolstered the argument for legalization because proponents can point to a specific example of Canadians who’ve been given legal access, he says.
“If you legalize it or you don’t legalize it, it will be even wider used,” he says. “Right now, we already have 42 per cent of all Ontarians below 30 using it. If you look at lifetime prevalence, it’s in the 70s (per cent).
“This is a normalized behaviour. It may be officially prohibited, but it is what most young people at some point in their lives have experienced and this is to some point irreversible.”
Full Story: https://www.facebook.com/Canadian420nurses
Laurie Canadian420
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