October 17, 2018 - Marijuana is Legal in Canada

I haven't blogged in eight months.  There have been many items I could have blogged about, but I didn't.  But marijuana becoming legal in Canada, that is a good topic.

With today (October 17, 2018) being the date, marijuana becomes legal, people who are recreational and medicianl users are rejoicing that it is becoming legal.  People who have used it for whatever reason, they have been waiting for it to become legal.  It's not like the United States that allow individual states to make the choice to make it legal or not.

The history of marijuana being illegal in Canada goes back to 1923 according to a CBC article.  Basically, it has been a 95 year wait for marijuana to become legal again.  Historians have tried to find any record of a debate, but they have found no such thing.  That seems odd.  You would think there would be records of it.  Apparently not.

When marijuana was added to the schedule of proscribed by Parliament,  Canada became one of the first countries to make it illegal.  The United States made it illegal 14 years later during the Great Depression.

In 1923, then Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberal government introduced an Act to Prohibit the Improper Use of Opium and other Drugs.  Henri Beland, who was the health minister at the time, said the bill was a consolidation of other legislation that had been passed over the previous few years, with some changes.Heroin, codeine and "cannabis indica (Indian hemp) or hasheesh" were also proscribed and added to the new bill.

Apparently the Hansard is the only recorded mention of the changes to schedule.  It happened on April 23rd when Beland told the House of Commons, "There is a new drug in the schedule."

 There were three new drugs added to the schedule.  According to historian Catherine Carstairs, Beland was probably referring to cannabis when he said there was this "new" drug because in the government's view, "the other two are extensions of other products that had already been added to the schedule."

Side note, Carstairs is the author of Jailed for Possession: Illegal Drug Use, Regulation and Power in Canada, 1920-1961 and chair of the University of Guelph's history department.

Fast forward to May 3rd.  It was the Senate's turn to review to review the legislation.  Raoul Dandurand, the Liberal government's leader in the Senate, told his colleagues, "There is only one addition to the schedule: Cannabis Indica (Indian Hemp) or hasheesh."The 1991 book Panic and Indifference: The Politics of Canada's Drug Laws is the most detailed account of the events of 1923.  It states that the health department’s narcotic division's files contain a draft of the bill that does not include cannabis. There are also several carbon copies, and to one of them was added, "Cannabis Indica (Indian Hemp) or hasheesh."

Nobody knows who ordered it added to the schedule.  Both the House and the Senate agreed to the additions without any discussion.You might find it odd that nobody challenged the addition to the schedule.  There was little know about this "drug" in Canada and apparently, very few people were smoking it.

No newspapers made reference to marijuana and the first seizure of it by the police didn't come until 1932, nearly ten years later.

In 1922, a book entitled he Black Candle, by Emily Murphy, is frequently given as the reason for then Prime Minister King's government to make marijuana illegal.  Apparently there is no evidence that this book or Murphy influenced the government's decision outside of coincidence.

Panic and Indifference: The Politics of Canada's Drug Laws states that unlike drugs added to the schedule and proscribed, marijuana was criminalized before it was defined as a "social problem."  "Why this was so remains a mystery."

This was all during an era of prohibition and King was an advocate against opium which goes back to 1908.  Also, Carstairs says that there's no record King was then keeping a close eye on the drug file and she has found no reference to marijuana in his diaries.

Trying to brief with the history of marijuana, you can see the full article in the link.  Fast forward to modern times, Canada failed with trying to decriminalize marijuana.  When Justin Trudeau was elected, he promised that marijuana would become legal.  With various dates being talked about including July 1, 2018; obviously marijuana becoming legal never happened on those dates.  There were still a number of steps to go through before ending the 95-year prohibition.  That's why July 1st never happened.

I don't know how things will work in other provinces, but the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority is accepting applications for Wholesale Cannabis Permits/Licensed Producer Registration. Although, Quebec has their own cannabis/marijuana laws. One thing you can't do is sell items with the marijuana leaf on it unless it is government approved.  If you don't see the irony of this, that's on you.

A lot of people are complaining that if retailers sell it, it will be low quality and cheap thus the black market will still thrive for now.  Seems like they are just assuming based on what they think they know.  There will be dispensaries and shops that will open.  But will the various provincial and territorial governments regulate them like government owned liquor stores?  Will they tax it like alcohol?  Earlier this year, Manitoba announced multiple taxes on legal marijuana.

I am not a recreational user of marijuana at all.  Although I tried it once at a Halloween party as I was drunk.  It's like drinking or smoking.  Just because alcohol and cigarettes are legal, it doesn't mean you have to do it.  You don't have to do it.

There are lots of positives to it being legal even if you don't smoke it.  Everything from social, economical, and law enforcement reasons with the exception of driving while under the influence.  With it being legal and taxed, it will bring in extra money for the government to help possibly reduce debt.  If you look at California, marijuana sales top $14 billion annually.  Just think what that can do for Canada.

I could talk about medical marijuana, but that's another post for another time.

If you are recreational user of marijuana, congrats.  Go enjoy marijuana freely as this was a long time coming.