Canada Just Passed The Bill To Legalize Recreational Marijuana

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: JohnnyCanuck
...criminal record can ... prevent one from traveling to the US.

Hold up, I just reversed my stance and now support keeping it criminalized.

God knows there's enough of you Canadians coming down here and being polite on our sunny beaches while taking advantage of our private health care system.

Ewww you're being a xenophobe dauwl.

a reply to: DrumsRfun

I agree 100%

originally posted by: underwerks

originally posted by: Quetzalcoatl14
It's long overdue. For most of human history marijuana was legal, and used for all manners of recreational, industrial, and medicinal purposes.

Add to that the fact that from a medical and addiction medicine perspective, it's a very safe drug compared to the vast majority of even legal drugs (especially when compared to alcohol and various prescription drugs), most of which are more lethal, more damaging over time, and more addictive.

Waiting for the uneducated to attempt to refute the latter points in 3...2...1

a reply to: underwerks

It is long overdue. I hope Canada serves as an example of how to do it right to everyone in the U.S who believes it's a bad idea to legalize cannabis.

I'm not even going to get into how stupid it is a plant has to be "legalized" in the first place.

To the people saying this changes nothing and is only the government sticking it's hands into it, you obviously have never been arrested for having a plant in your pocket. Not going to jail for personal use is what this is about, more than anything.

Right, most people's drug charges come from that, not harder things.

Funnily enough, I moved from very *green* California where I grew up, but people had to keep it down low at least back in the day, to NYC. Despite not being legal, here in Brooklyn people basically just light up everywhere: bar patios, on the street, on stoops, etc. There are four dudes doing so on my stoop as I write. One can be sitting in a beer garden and nobody will bat an eye when people light up. I swear it almost always smells like the devil's weed out here. There's basically no fear. Manhattan is a bit more subdued. The police have far more to worry about.

a reply to: JohnnyCanuck

Well yea of course it was "criminal", but even then, there is literally a dispenser at every other block and almost anyone can just walk in and purchase some weed. You could smoke in front of a cop and more often than not, they would just tell you to toss it. Unless you are a drug dealer, this will have little to no affect on you. Lets be honest here, they only want to regulate the market themselves and take it away from the criminals. Weed is a billion+++ dollar business.

a reply to: Quetzalcoatl14

I think at this point most people have experienced it and know its isn't some crazy mind-bending life destroying thing as it was advertised for so many years. It seems the only people left in America that still buy into that BS are the people who make the laws, ironically.

Eventually that will change too. The old ways are giving up a fight, but the tide has already turned.

a reply to: JohnnyCanuck

Right now, marijuana use criminalizes users.

I have to disagree with you there because there is a huuuuuge gray area.

If you are an idiot,you get a possession charge and rightfully so,I know someone who had his life messed around for a little while because of a roach in the ashtray.
He was being a total dickhead.

I know waaay too many people who have been pinched with a bit of recreational pot and have never had a charge or a fine or any issues at all.
They were nice and respectful.

Gray area right there...everything is fine to me as it is because this is a good form of decriminalization.

I will point out this is just a starting point..the various provinces and municipalities all are going to have a say in the growing, distribution..etc..they are all going to want a cut.

a reply to: knowledgehunter0986

They can't even control our debt and economy?
I am sure something great will come from this. (I am rolling my eyes)

In the "stores" the prices have already been 3 times higher than what our own government said was the going rate price.

They are going to take a "perfect economical thing" that hasn't had prices go up in 30 years (unlike everything else in government control) and squander and ruin things,while making more regulations,laws and criminals out of people who don't do things by their evidently amazing way of handling an economy.

Hell no...if it is too good to be true,it probably is.

Decriminalize and THATS IT!!

Right, or people in a bubble or not very informed. The more I know about marijuana's use and history and yes, relatively safe nature, the more I think that it almost is a conspiracy that it's been demonized and made illegal. Some of the older generation were totally propagandized that it was evil, as hard as other drugs like heroin or coc aine, etc. I'm sure you've heard a variety of ulterior motives for its illegal status, from the textile industry and energy interests to the hippies who assert it opens people's mind too much for the government's tastes.

originally posted by: DrumsRfun
a reply to: knowledgehunter0986

They can't even control our debt and economy?
I am sure something great will come from this. (I am rolling my eyes)

In the "stores" the prices have already been 3 times higher than what our own government said was the going rate price.

They are going to take a "perfect economical thing" that hasn't had prices go up in 30 years (unlike everything else in government control) and squander and ruin things,while making more regulations,laws and criminals out of people who don't do things by their evidently amazing way of handling an economy.

Hell no...if it is too good to be true,it probably is.

Decriminalize and THATS IT!!

I don't see that as being accurate. No prices have gone up at all. The only people who have seen prices go up are those who are used to really low quality marijuana, who at dispensary see very high grade stuff that always was around the prices they are going for. You can also buy low grade stuff for cheap at dispensaries.

What is at issue is that possibly the prices haven't gone down enough, when they should have due to the fact that much of the high prices for illegal substances is due to trafficking, black market, and supply and demand issues.

originally posted by: DrumsRfun
a reply to: JohnnyCanuck

Right now, marijuana use criminalizes users.

I have to disagree with you there because there is a huuuuuge gray area.

If you are an idiot,you get a possession charge and rightfully so,I know someone who had his life messed around for a little while because of a roach in the ashtray.
He was being a total dickhead.

I know waaay too many people who have been pinched with a bit of recreational pot and have never had a charge or a fine or any issues at all.
They were nice and respectful.

Gray area right there...everything is fine to me as it is because this is a good form of decriminalization.

That's mostly because in many places, if one has under an ounce of marijuana it's a misdemeanor, or a relatively minor charge if they even charge you. If one has over an ounce, or a scale, or multiple baggies, they can be charged with the felony of "intent to sell." At least that's how it was in California.

BUT, I think it's harsher in other states and locations, and especially other countries. Also, in most states one will still get a felony charge for growing marijuana. Even one plant. Is that really "decriminalization" to you?

a reply to: Quetzalcoatl14

Thats how it pretty well is here already,before it is legal...in my Province anyways.
Also,a sad fact about this province is that we already have more debt than California already.

Im in Canada, ive been buying legaly for a few years now. I go down the street to a dispensary which has me on a waiting list to see a doctor and through that loophole i guess is allowed to sell it to me. There are plenty of them around, they get raided and shut down, they reopen again after a few weeks. Mine never got shut down, i think their loophole is working. Most stay open all the time now, cops dont even bother anymore, costs too much money to process in court from what i hear.

Anyways, im right across the border in Hamilton, between Toronto and Niagara Falls and about 30 minutes from each. I think tourism will boom like crazy here and i can not wait to grow. I heard for us Ontarians the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) will regulate it. LCBO is where you get your spirits, coolers, wines and beer amongst other things and then we have The Beer Store, where u get beer. Both goverment controlled, although we are slowly getting booze in corner stores and supermarkets.

originally posted by: Quetzalcoatl14


Right, or people in a bubble or not very informed. The more I know about marijuana's use and history and yes, relatively safe nature, the more I think that it almost is a conspiracy that it's been demonized and made illegal. Some of the older generation were totally propagandized that it was evil, as hard as other drugs like heroin or coc aine, etc. I'm sure you've heard a variety of ulterior motives for its illegal status, from the textile industry and energy interests to the hippies who assert it opens people's mind too much for the government's tastes.

Anyone who has actually looked into the effects and uses if mj, know-it is a medicine, not only does it have medicinal properties, hemp has many practical uses from clothing all the way through to fuel.

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

originally posted by: Quetzalcoatl14


Right, or people in a bubble or not very informed. The more I know about marijuana's use and history and yes, relatively safe nature, the more I think that it almost is a conspiracy that it's been demonized and made illegal. Some of the older generation were totally propagandized that it was evil, as hard as other drugs like heroin or coc aine, etc. I'm sure you've heard a variety of ulterior motives for its illegal status, from the textile industry and energy interests to the hippies who assert it opens people's mind too much for the government's tastes.

Anyone who has actually looked into the effects and uses if mj, know-it is a medicine, not only does it have medicinal properties, hemp has many practical uses from clothing all the way through to fuel.

Right, of course. That was implied in my references to the textile (clothing, rope sails) to energy motives (fuel).

a reply to: Quetzalcoatl14

I know i just wanted to repeat it for the oldies, sometimes they miss the obvious stuff.

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
a reply to: Quetzalcoatl14

I know i just wanted to repeat it for the oldies, sometimes they miss the obvious stuff.

The Senate has made reference to holding the process up for another year.....which they should.

There is no proven test for roadside MJ levels.....lies are being told already and MADD has jumped the gun and has been lumping MJ in with killer alcohol twisting public preceptions....this is an overt play to keep the criminal courts busy and prison system working.

MJ for medical use in Canada is not a black and white issue because no one will force insurance companies to pay for MJ and this means MJ has NEVER been defined as medicinal by Health Canada .... The Powers that be know very wekk tht MJs greatest value is in eating it as an anti-parsitic....not as a combustable social drug.

Since my beloved Prime Minister Justin Pierre James Trudeau "used"to spoke weed.. I'm not surprised.

Americans & Canadians need to be careful when crossing back into the USA from a legal Province/Country to legal state like BC to Washington state. That tiny strip of land at the border is federal and they can and will catch you and put you in a world of hurt, seems silly but it's true.
The Americans have some pretty smart dogs, that have good noses for finding drugs, and if you have 10G of weed they are going to smell it, legal everywhere but where the dog is smelling for it.
Be warned.