Justin Trudeau may have announced legalized cannabis starting October 17, 2018, but we’re a long way off from ending prohibition.
Trudeau told reporters: “One of the things that we heard very clearly from the provinces is that they need a certain amount of time to get their bricks and mortar stores — their online sales — ready.”
Poor provinces.
I’d feel for them if there wasn’t already a peaceful, vibrant cannabis industry in Canada.
As this CBC comedy sketch outlines (and one can’t be funny without hinting at some truth), these unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats don’t know the first thing about cannabis.
So, prohibition 2.0 begins October 17, 2018. The day before Pierre Elliot Trudeau’s birthday.
And nearly three years after Justin’s election, where I (and others) correctly predicted what a colossal fuck-up Liberal Legalization was going to be.
Where is the discussion about bringing BC Bud out of the shadows and into an above-board, regulated regime?
In places like Alberta, cannabis connoisseurs who openly defied the law and engaged in civil disobedience will still be criminal.
In Manitoba and Quebec, where you are free to brew your own poison, growing the wrong type of plant can still land you in hot water.
In B.C., Solicitor General Mike Farnworth isn’t talking about BC Bud tourism. He won’t allow well-established and respected dispensaries to be grandfathered in. Whether they’re unlicensed or have paid licensing fees to their municipality.
Which goes to show you, Vancouver’s $30,000+ license was a money-grab that ultimately didn’t do anything except line the pockets of a government with a spending problem.
There’s no talk of medical research or the medicinal and therapeutic properties of the plant. Governments across Canada are very clear about this. Cannabis is basically the same as alcohol and tobacco.
What will October 17th, 2018 bring instead?
Former politicians and cops cashing in on the licensed producer system set up by the Harper government and adopted by Justin’s Liberals.
Bureaucrats who think legalization is an excuse to hire more public sector employees, to ramp up operations and create new cannabis categories of bureaucracy.
Cops think it’s an excuse to hire more police and increase funding.
Meanwhile, cannabis is still illegal.
“Cannabis for non-medical use is not legal yet. The law still remains the law,” Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould told reporters.
“The date that cannabis will become legal will be announced soon. Until then, I urge all Canadians to continue to follow the existing law until the Cannabis Act comes into force.”
But if “the law is the law,” where’s the room for civil disobedience?
As the Charter of Rights and Freedom says: “Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law”
For a Justice Minister, it’s ironic Jody seems to be forgetting that the rule of law isn’t just legislative.
There are the positive laws of government, that is, legislation. And then there are natural laws that transcend government.
After all, it is in the Western tradition that law is supreme, above and beyond individual government dictates. That when government laws are in opposition to our natural rights as human beings, the latter takes precedence.
To play politics with the law is to continue the same path Harper was taking us down. And considering how badly they screwed up legalization, one has to wonder if this was all worth a Trudeau government.