Will Canadians be able to grow their own cannabis? It’s hard to say, but if Bill Blair has anything to do with it, then the answer is probably no.
Despite the 44-year-old Le Dain Commission Inquiry into the Non-medical Use of Drugs (which took three years to complete), the Liberals are wasting time and taxpayer money on another committee to investigate the legalization of cannabis.
The federal legalization “task force” will determine what legalization should look like. According to Bill Blair, cannabis, “is not like tomatoes, it is a substance that poses certain significant social and health harms.”
Oh? We hear this a lot from the intelligentsia, but so far we haven’t been given any details as to what these social and health harms are.
Granted, they routinely talk about the children and developing brains, but the Liberals aren’t implementing a regime for children. Legalizing cannabis is morally sound because adults shouldn’t be fined and thrown in cages for growing and consuming a natural plant.
But getting back to Blair’s comment, here are five ways that cannabis is like tomatoes, where, unlike alcohol or tobacco, the substance is benign and poses no threat to the public.
1. Like tomatoes, there is no lethal overdose. No one has ever died from cannabis and it’s likely impossible to overdose. In these days of shatter and edibles, if someone was going to overdose it probably would have happened by now. Meanwhile, thousands of people die every year from alcohol and tobacco, clogging up the tax-funded health-care system, imposing “significant social and health harms.” Yet, like tomatoes, people can brew their own beer, make their own wine, and grow their own tobacco.
2. Cultivating cannabis is “no worse than having tomato plants,” according to a British judge. Although this is an appeal to authority, it isn’t without its merits. Judges are professionals, they are officials appointed to decide cases in accordance with the rule of law. So when a British judge refused to ruin someone’s life just for growing cannabis, his reasoning shouldn’t be disregarded. Especially since the Canadian and British legal systems share so much in common.
3. Tomatoes are a sub-tropical plant, requiring the soil to be at least 50 degrees before planting. If there’s not enough calcium in the soil, the plant can develop a disease. They grow best at temperatures ranging from 60 to 85 degrees. Likewise, cannabis is a sub-tropical plant and does best when soil temperatures are 50 degrees and above. It’s been said that if you can grow tomatoes, you can grow cannabis. Like tomatoes grown for personal use, cannabis doesn’t require extensive testing for quality and gamma-irritated processing.
4. Tomatoes and cannabis don’t harm the brain. The myth that cannabis kills brain cells is just that, a myth. And the proponents who say cannabis harms developing brains forget to mention that, in the study that they always reference, tobacco use wasn’t isolated. Which brings up a very important question: perhaps it is tobacco that harms the developing brain, not cannabis.
Regardless, unless medically approved, no one is talking about giving cannabis to children. The government can restrict, control and regulate the industry all they want, but if teenagers want to smoke pot, they’re going to find a way. Just like with alcohol and cigarettes.
5. There are health benefits to eating tomatoes, as they are a good source of vitamins A, C, K, and B6. They also have significant amounts of folate and thiamin and are good sources of potassium, manganese, magnesium, phosphorous, and copper.
Likewise, cannabis reverses the carcinogenic effects of tobacco and improves lung health, it helps control epileptic seizures, prevents cancer from spreading, slows Alzheimer’s disease, eases the pain of multiple sclerosis, it is an anti-inflammatory, relieves pain, it’s good for your metabolism, and is a solid treatment for people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. It also protects the brain from injuries, strengthens bones, the hemp seed is rich in healthy fats, protein, and minerals, including essential fatty acids like linoleic acid and plant-based omega-3 — and this is just scratching the surface.
So, when it comes to the “significant social and health harms” of cannabis, just what in the hell is Bill Blair talking about?