Think about this from the “normal” point of view.
You’ve never tried cannabis, except maybe a few times, you rarely drink, likely have kids and probably pay a lot of taxes.
There’s some vague promise to legalize marijuana, but it needs to be done in such a way that it doesn’t harm children and society at large.
This is the base that Justin Trudeau is peddling to. He doesn’t care about BC Bud, and activists that supported him either have a major blindspot with how politics works, or they sold out.
But, what’s done is done.
Justin Trudeau is Prime Minister and cannabis will be legalized – but it won’t be the free and fair market most of us are hoping for.
It’s more likely to resemble the alcohol industry which is burdened by thousands of regulations and benefits the top producers at the expense of small-time “craft” brewers.
But, so what? We’ll just keep producing BC Bud in spite of— No, actually.
Trudeau openly campaigned on making it harder for the black market to operate, and guess what? We’re that black market.
And the government-approved businesses or wholesale monopoly? That would be the licensed producers.
The corporate-state media is a good indication of where the government will be going with its legalization policies.
Nearly every major outlet, from the Globe and Mail, to Maclean’s to the Toronto Star, is calling for government-mandated monopolies or strictly controlled private companies.
The licensed producers have attempted (and, in some cases, succeeded) in getting their hands on BC’s plant genetics.
Even if the responsibility around cannabis is handed down to the provinces, and BC happens to promote its grassroots middle-class industry — by the time this happens the LPs may have cornered the market.
They already have some of BC’s genetics due to the sell-out of certain growers and approval from their lawyers.
Sure, someday there may be a BC connoisseur market, paying lip service to the old brand and cashing in on tourists who want to smoke BC Bud.
But, the future will be corporate because a vast majority of Canadians are ignorant on the topic and want cannabis controlled, regulated and restricted.
Canada seriously lacks entrepreneurs and nobody seems to care.
They don’t understand that by legalizing according to Liberal standards, they will be destroying an authentic middle class and will also prevent hemp from re-industrializing the nation, potentially replacing fossil fuels for energy.
Only after the ashes have settled will a crippled British Columbia be able to restart and compete with the corporate oligarchs who have taken their place.
But it will be a new generation, with new strains.
In the meantime, this unique experiment of BC Bud – complete with thousands of farmers, extraction crews, dispensary owners and employees — will be priced out of the market.
They will be forced into bankruptcy and only permitted to return once they’ve gone through the bureaucratic paperwork of the state’s regulatory regime.
But this is Canada. We are, by default, free. If human action requires central government involvement and regulation, then the burden of proof should be on Justin Trudeau and the Liberal government.
Bureaucrats should not dictate to free individuals what they can or cannot do with their bodies or their business.
Legalization shouldn’t be about tax-revenue for the government. It should be about ending this disastrous war on people.
Cannabis isn’t like alcohol or nicotine.
Show me the traffic casualties. Show me the deaths. Show me the battery and assault claims.
There are none, because cannabis is benign.
If it isn’t benign like some have suggested, then please, explain what the dangers are.
What is “cannabis use disorder” other than individuals who are already prone to addiction? I’d rather see a society “addicted” to cannabis than alcohol or some other hard drug.
A person with “cannabis use disorder” is just an individual who would like to stop augmenting his or her reality with cannabis, but is unable to do so.
This is not a problem for society at large, for society is merely the concerted action of individuals. This is a problem for certain individuals, and I fully support having mechanisms in place to help them.
But you don’t achieve this by over-regulating cannabis, instituting government monopolies and re-hashing reefer madness propaganda.
BC Bud will suffer at the hands of the hysteric and uniformed. It will suffer from the politicians who believe they are doing something good for society.
And while I hate to cast blame on the cannabis culture itself — anyone who supported Justin Trudeau and the Liberals plan for legalization shouldn’t be surprised.
The state cannot be trusted. It is the enemy of peace and prosperity, no matter who is in charge.