Risks of untested cannabis from unregulated farmers and vendors is the latest menace, and this gets to the core of why we even have government regulation to begin with.
The definition for what actually constitutes “untested cannabis” is according to government standards.
But why? Are consumers idiotic? Are business practices so corrupt that we can’t reasonably assume a free and fair market in cannabis testing and accreditation?
How won’t these services arise from consumer demand?
And what about individual testing? Am I incapable of taking care of myself?
If Health Canada “allowed” me to take cannabis to a privately-owned laboratory, I might find trace amounts of something that isn’t good for me.
This is bound to happen when you smoke a plant. That’s why many people choose vaporizing, edibles, oil, or shatter.
But even if you choose to smoke poor quality cannabis, the risk is yours and yours alone.
Never-mind for a minute Canada’s single-payer health care system, where your health and well-being are also my concern.
The Liberals and various health organizations claim they have some responsibility to 28 million adults, as if Canada was a big family instead of a country, with government its parent instead of its state, and rest of us its children instead of free individuals.
And where quality control and the “wild west” of free markets are all misdiagnosed, the result is a parent that hits one child to benefit another.
Canada’s large cannabis producers (LPs) are the honour students. They’ve got straight As when it comes to growing cannabis. They get to ride up front.
BC Bud, the free market of “unlicensed” farmers, vendors, extraction crews and the rest — these are the children who skipped class and expect to graduate.
They see the ugly face of an abusive parent.
But, far from skipping school, BC’s cannabis industry have the actual skills LPs and liquor store unions lack.
Governments are not parental figures, they are territorial monopolies that apply the legitimate uses of force.
Raiding cannabis vendors is apparently permissible because they sell untested cannabis.
Meanwhile, Health Canada threatens violence against laboratories offering to test said cannabis.
How does one even define “untested” cannabis? If people aren’t dying or heading to the hospitals en masse, then how is this even an issue?
Legalization is more about a change in tone than anything else. The regulations themselves more or less look the same.
True, medical patients can now grow minimum plants after undergoing a cumbersome licensing process, but this is because the Federal Court demands it.
Everywhere else the Liberals sound like the Conservatives: children are the responsibility of federal taxpayers, nonviolent crime is equated with violent criminal networks, and risks of untested cannabis warrant government intervention.
While ole’ Stevie took the social-conservative angle (beer and hockey good, marihuana bad), shirtless Justin is hip and progressive.
He intervenes for your own good. He sees you already smoking it, so he won’t imprison you, he just demands you buy from his dealers.
The ones Harper appointed.