“There is no place for the State in the baggies of the Nation.”
In school there were the super cool good-looking kids that everyone gravitated to. The opposite sex gravitated to them by raw attraction, the same sex were looking for coolness-by-association. The ones that could wear plaid shirts when everyone was wearing polo shirts and tapered pants, and without saying a word get everyone to wear plaid. Maybe even they could say drugs are not cool, and a lot of people, at least for a while, might think drugs are uncool. They could definitely say ‘drugs are cool’, and find traction with that message. These kids were cool because they were rebels, but they were mainstream rebels we would all follow.
So if one of those cool kids said:
“Drugs are fine – no big deal; not great, really, and very bad for people under the age of 19, except in Quebec and Alberta, where kids brains develop at a different speed, but drug dealers suck, so let’s sell drugs in the corner store instead of behind it.”
people would scratch their heads a little, shrug, and go the corner store and buy drugs. Or they wouldn’t. But what wouldn’t happen, is someone around the cool person saying ‘that doesn’t actually make sense if you think about it…’, or at least, if they did say that, no one would hear because they’d all be in line to buy drugs at the store. If someone was against pot and they were full of conviction and were on the debating team and happened to be in the vicinity, maybe tying their shoe laces in the corner store after buying their carton of skim milk, they might say ‘well I agree dealers are bad (duh), and if your plan somehow keeps drugs away from kids, that sounds good, but making it more available and cheaper in government-sanctioned- ’.
That’s approximately the point when they could no longer be heard. Some possible reasons they couldn’t be heard: noise of others yelling; noise from the debater yelling because they are wearing their milk or someones fist; or a lack of noise because they are having trouble breathing with their underwear so tight under their armpits.
Of course that is a ridiculous scenario that no one would believe, except the cool kid was made prime minister. Some argue that the state shouldn’t control what people do – and there is some truth to that – so the state shouldn’t be growing, selling, taxing -and imbedded in all those things – promoting pot use. The government also shouldn’t be on the hook for the medical costs and the societal costs of life-long brain impairment, emphysema and from impaired driving. And if you really believe in not controlling what people do, legalize all drugs, and ditch seatbelt and helmet and gun laws. For those that are still nodding, well go knock yourself out with all your personal freedoms (am I saying that literally or figuratively? Hmmm).
The High: It’s Weed Wednesday
So here we are. Today is the day. Marijuana is now legal in Canada. It is a news frenzy. It is a shopping frenzy. It is a social media frenzy. But I’m not buying it (literally or figuratively).
Until about two days ago I hadn’t heard anyone in news coverage in the last two years express any reservations about the new law. It left me bewildered. The thing is, legalization is generally popular with the public and politicians miss the bandwagon at their professional peril, so they either support it or keep their mouth shut. Popular change + tax revenue = too good for politicians to think twice about.
You’d think it was Christmas. People are so excited about Weed Wednesday. Even the CBC had a countdown ticker. So I’m sitting here all alone in my sadness while everyone else seems happy. You’d think it was Christmas. Before you turn away and call me a downer, I’ll say some things you probably agree with:
- the old law was a bad law
- having a record for simple pot possession is not right
- People of low socio-economic status and visible minorities were disproportionately charged with drug violations for pot, which is, to put it mildly, unfair.
- There are ways that alcohol and even tobacco are worse than pot, and they are legal.
The Low: A Dose of Reality
I may be a downer, but I’ll try and do it quickly. Here are the problems with the new pot law:
- To state the obvious, pot was illegal and now it is legal. It has moved from being in the same company as heroin and crack cocaine to being in the same category as alcohol and tobacco, but is arguably sailing past that in the minds of the public to the same category as brownies, herbal tea and herbal medicine. The direction it is moving in our collective moral compass is far more meaningful than the stationary objects nearby.
- One of the stated goals of the new law is to get rid of the bad old drug dealers. But it won’t. It will affect them, certainly. I read that over a third of Colorado pot sales are still on the black market. This could be due to price (taxes by government), ease of access (not having a retail option nearby, and not having the credit card or patience to order on-line), the desire for stronger strains, or because you aren’t allowed to buy it legally – ie youth. Oh, and I’ve heard that organized crime has other products for sale too, which will now come into greater focus.
- I am not going to defend drug dealers. I do have a question, though. Are rich, self-interested, (mostly white) corporations that much better than (mixed income and race), self-interested local drug dealers? Corporations will want to increase sales and profits, and that means finding ways to expand sales. Yes, they pay taxes. Yes, they probably aren’t lacing pot with fentanyl. These are improvements to be be sure, but between the continuing black market and the corporate pushers, this is a partial victory at best.
- The other stated goal of the new law is to keep it out of the hands of minors and their developmentally more susceptible brains. So we legalized pot but made it illegal for youth. You know, like it was before. So that will make a big difference. Now it will be like alcohol and tobacco, which of course youth don’t use, so our youth are super safe now.
- Government control tacitly means government approval. As I said before: popularity + tax revenue = happy politicians. But it is wrong. Dead wrong. Government should not be promoting bad things. Yup, they already do the same thing with alcohol and to a lesser extent with tobacco, and some governments do the same thing with gambling. The problem is, it is hard to reverse these decisions. Imagine someone trying to bring in prohibition of alcohol again. Not going to fly. But that’s not a reason to pile on more government vices.
Like a Boot to the Head
It is legal to boot yourself in the face. Now imagine the government starts selling canes for smacking yourself on the head. They say lots of people are doing it already and it is better than a boot to the head. And you don’t throw your back out. Does that make sense? Do we really need another way to smack our poor heads?
Marijuana is a smack to the brain. It is a bad thing. It is not a good thing. Yes, there are specific medical conditions that pot helps. Talk to your doctor. That doesn’t make it good for everyone, all the time. There are lots of prescription painkillers that are ‘natural’ too, and they are bad – very very bad if used inappropriately (and often even if used appropriately).
Some people say it is ‘unfair’ that pot is illegal and alcohol is legal. If you see pot crying, give it a big hug and say ‘there there’. Then take a good hard look at yourself, sitting there hugging pot and talking to it. Pot doesn’t have feelings, and I’d rather take the chance of being unfair to it than have government pushing on us one more way to smack ourselves in the head.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that almost certainly more people will use pot overall. The rate of use by those 19-25 (or 18-25 in Alberta and Quebec) will almost certainly increase, and this age group is still in the brain development period where pot use is of heightened concern. As for under-age youth? The stats are mirky. At best they will go down a couple percentage points. At best.
The fact that it has some specific medical uses, combined with feeling it is ‘better than alcohol’ will lead to less strong internal self-control in some people and attempts to self-medicate (yes, people self-medicate with alcohol, but not consciously. No one really thinks alcohol will solve any problems, but some people think that of pot).
Most people frown on drinking during the day in any great quantity, except perhaps at a summer BBQ or a baseball game (spending 3 ½ hrs watching paint dry might even drive me to drink). There are subtle societal peer-pressure controls in place for most of us regarding alcohol. You can wake up and smoke a joint on your front step and wave at the neighbours. There are different social rules in place and this will be a problem with legalization.
I worry about adding to this pre-existing social attitude by putting the government seal of approval on it. They can do information campaigns about the risks, but at the same time they will be licensing and selling it; our mistake is the government and business aspect. I wish for no government support, I wish for no stores marketing, promoting and pushing cannabis into the social space for things that are okay. My bottom line is that I don’t want government saying it is okay and normal, even if it is statistically normal these days, because it is a crutch and it affects health and relationships negatively. No the sky won’t fall. No, it will not be a wild epidemic. No users brains won’t ooze out their ears as they turn into zombies (although I knew this pot-head in high school…). But we don’t need one more way to smack ourselves in the head. Or rather, we don’t need government hyping up an illegal but common way to smack ourselves in the head.
I’m a little dazed and confused by where we have ended up today. It happened without much of a fight. I think it is best to leave our brains in their natural state. I don’t think you can chemically induce happiness, at least not in the long-term. I don’t think the government should be endorsing neuro-active drugs to the general public. Not long ago I would have felt like most people agreed with me. I guess that’s one more thing that’s changed.
I am left wishing for a system where there are no fines or any legal consequences for personal possession. If people really want pot, they can grow it themselves, or get it from friends who grew it themselves. I’m all for making that legal for the sake of the ‘there’s no place for the state in the baggies of the nation’ types, and to undermine organized crime.
Does anyone really think Trudeau wants to legalize cannabis to keep it away from children and to fight organized crime? The evidence is really dodgy that this will be the outcome. I think he is still the cool kid who wants to be the mainstream rebel, and knows voters and politicians will join his entourage on this one. I’m not the cool kid, I’m not in the entourage. And since everyone in the public sphere seems to be, I guess I’m the rebel for being against pot legalization. Times have sure changed, and now the kid tying his shoe laces and talking policy is a rebel.
Some research sources:
://www.thoughtco.com/decriminalization-versus-legalization-of-marijuana-3368393
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/06/21/colorado-survey-shows-what-marijuana-legalization-will-do-to-your-kids/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.d8af5c4e2410
https://www.straight.com/news/524881/decriminalization-versus-legalization-marijuana-advocates-scrutinize-competing-plans
