This short sketch from CBC Comedy perfectly highlights the absurdity of the government running a cannabis retail monopoly with no experience and minimal knowledge of the product they’re supposed to be selling, especially when dispensaries have been doing it for years!
As the tagline states, “The government is preparing to open commercial dispensaries, but the only problem is: No one has ever sold drugs before!”
The sketch takes place in government offices, where they are thrilled to be closing down dispensaries and taking over, as one enthusiastically yells, “Put those criminals behind bars and let’s sell some pot!”
They say there’s truth in comedy and while it may be slightly exaggerated, you can bet that a similar conversation has taken place on Parliament Hill or in provincial legislatures, as some politicians have shown an almost stunning ignorance of even the most basic things about cannabis.
Remember Conservative Sen. Nicole Easton who infamously said back in March that “five grams is about four tokes”?
tokes pic.twitter.com/kCiLpQzlrI
— 🌙David Brown (@drowbb) March 22, 2018
You can’t make this stuff up. And to think that Sen. Eaton said this after spending months reviewing and studying the Cannabis Act in the Senate, which involved talking to all sorts of experts on drug policy, health, and law enforcement. She later claimed she misspoke and confused “tokes” for “joints”- and these are the people who we are counting on to create cannabis laws and spearhead legalization?
As someone says in the video, “We need to take it back to government basics. Unnecessary positions and lots of committees!” as they completely ignore Darryl, the lone voice of common sense among them, who defends dispensaries and exclaims, “This makes no sense! Something works. Why would we tear it down and take it over?!”
Naturally, nobody listens to him as the rest of the group are too busy wondering what dabs and bongs are.
The short was directed and written by Ryan Long for CBC Comedy.