Why did Nevada legalize on July 1, 2017, after voting on it in November 2016, when Canadians voted in October 2015 and yet we must wait until at least July 2018?
Is it because Nevadans voted on the issue specifically by appealing to the democratic ballot process in the States?
Canadians, after all, voted for members of parliament who represent constituents. A majority of these MPs belonged to the same political party, this party placed Justin Trudeau as their leader. He is now the prime minister. Governor General David Johnston is the head of state.
But for decades we’ve been experiencing parliamentary popularity contests without a monarch. We should be ashamed of ourselves.
Nevada has a very specific process that enabled a referendum on the question. Should cannabis be legal recreationally? A majority voted yes on that specific issue.
Canada’s legalization isn’t like the ballot initiative measure in Nevada. The processes are different. One is an issue directly put to voters, the other is a policy promise bound up with a bunch of other things like running deficits and reforming the electoral system
One promise kept, another broken, and we’ll see just how bad legalization turns out to be.
In the meantime, Nevadans will have their problems with legalization.
Cannabis legalization is a method by which governments can create a new, regulated market of commercial producers and sellers.
In Canada, only a small number of people are involved with the emerging industry. The rest of us are “organized crime,” despite how an overwhelming majority are peaceful and not connected to other, especially violent, crimes.
What has Nevada done differently?
Nothing really, other than moving quickly. A court-case from the liquor industry almost put a damper on things, but on July 1st 2017, Nevada allowed existing medical dispensaries to sell recreationally and now they’ve run out of cannabis. The state has declared a state of emergency.
All the more smug Justin and his cohorts will be when commenting on their restrictive regulatory regime versus the state of emergency Nevada now finds itself in for, I suspect, moving too fast.
And Nevada didn’t decriminalize, you can still get arrested for anything over an ounce. As far as commercial sales go, only liquor companies are involved with the distributor licenses.
The tax-man has already formed their regulations on cannabis legalization, he borrowed the 32 pages from taxing the alcohol industry.
Nevada has a duopoly for alcohol distributors. They’ve got a stranglehold on alcohol with only a few craft distilleries independently owned.
To grow, even for personal consumption, you have to live more than 25 miles from a dispensary. That eliminates most of Clark and Washoe counties — about 80 percent of Nevada’s population.
Want to fix the cannabis shortage? Scrap that provision and allow individuals to supply dispensaries, license free.
Nevada might have moved fast, but their “legal lies” are as arbitrary and unjust as Liberal heel-dragging.