The licensed producers (LPs) remain, the injunction stands, but, oh, yeah, since the courts demand personal growing, Health Canada will have something ready for you by Aug. 24.
We already knew that.
But at least Thursday’s announcement released some details and a name, Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes.
And there’s nothing in there about mixing your medicine with kitty-litter.
It’s nice to see the medicine called for what it is: cannabis, not “marihuana.”
The mandatory LP-seed clause will be no more effective than the original MMAR mandate forcing patients to buy from Health Canada.
Some guy in a cubicle somewhere in Ottawa really thinks this will work.
That people will behave according to his central plan, that Health Canada can order Canadians to act a certain way, and that it’s okay to cry foul when they don’t.
As if bureaucrats were working in a tax-and-regulate human-farm factory, instead of as civil servants in a free country.
Imagine, Health Canada serving the people instead of engaging in make-work projects. Imagine, having servants take home little pay, instead of better pensions than the private sector (where all wealth originates).
Where there are medical patients needing cannabis, and producers able to provide it, Ottawa is not needed. Not one iota.
But what about the children?
Not an issue for taxpayers.
Organized crime?
Non-sequitur. The BC Bud cannabis industry is criminal because cannabis is in the criminal code. Acting on this semantic, Justin Trudeau is following in the footsteps of his father’s 1980 National Energy Program.
Or, to use the parlance of our times, a language Justin understands better — all your cannabis are belong to us.
But surely, quality testing cannabis and regulating cannabis providers must remain a priority for Canada’s federal nanny-state?
Quality assurance from the government implies bureaucracy. There is no other economic method governments can employ.
Unaccountable bureaucracy is the inevitable result of monopoly and forced remittance.
There is no profit and loss, no indicator as to what are the most efficient means to meet the demands of the end-users, i.e., the consumer.
There is no knowledge of available supplies and communication of demand.
Forget testing cannabis, it’s time we tested the actions of Health Canada.
Insofar that patients want their cannabis tested, the best thing Health Canada can do is stop threatening prosecution to laboratories that currently provide this service.
Insofar that dispensaries sell poor quality cannabis, the best thing Health Canada can do is step out of the way and encourage a robust free market of accreditation agencies.
Insofar that cannabis farmers are unregulated, the best thing Health Canada can do is reread the Allard decision and visit their local farmers market.
What works for personal grows also works for farmers markets and dispensaries.
People don’t want poor quality goods and services, especially when it comes to their medicine, and there’s nothing a federal bureaucracy can do about it except exhaust us of our time, money and health.