Mary Jane, Weed, Ganja. Justin Trudeau, leader of the Liberal party of Canada, smokes “it.” His admission in August that he has smoked marijuana in the past, and after he was elected as a Member of Parliament, brought an onslaught of similar admissions from other politicians.
Jim Flaherty, the PC Finance Minister, did it in his teenage years. Tom Mulcair says he did too, but before he was elected to office in 1994. Paul Martin ate some funny tasting brownies and Jack Layton says “some might say I never exhaled.” Rob Ford, Toronto Mayor, freely expressed, “Oh yeah. I’ve smoked a lot of it.” But “I do not use crack cocaine….” http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/08/29/stephen-harper-pot-marijuana_n_3838009.html
Trudeau’s admission was a risky move that could have propelled or crashed his political career. So far, it seems that his views are quite at home with the changing opinions of Canadians. According to a poll conducted by Forum Research in August, 70 per cent of Canadians want to see a relaxing of the rules around marijuana legalization or decriminalization.
View a graph here that shows the evolution of acceptance over the years: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/majority-of-canadians-want-to-loosen-marijuana-laws-polls/article14010389/
The survey also noted that Canadians do have a different opinion on marijuana than other drugs. Hard drugs like cocaine, heroin and meth only registered a 10 per cent or less support for legalization.
So why are more Canadians on board now with smoking a “spliffer?” I believe people are more educated about marijuana and its effects. It can very well be argued that legal alcohol consumption causes more illnesses and deaths than smoking a naturally grown plant.
“In 2011, Health Canada’s Alcohol and Drug Use Monitoring Survey found that 39 per cent of Canadians had used cannabis in their lifetimes, 9.1 per cent in the past year. No other illegal drug cracked 1 per cent. The only mind-altering substance more popular is alcohol — 90 per cent lifetime use, 78 per cent in the past year.” – see website: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/majority-of-canadians-want-to-loosen-marijuana-laws-polls/article14010389/
Also, when you consider the significant resources and expenses used to ticket, arrest, and go through the judicial system and incarcerate people for possession, you can’t help but wonder why we waste so much of our tax dollars on this. According to Statistics Canada, 26,000 charges were laid last year, representing 42 per cent of drug-related charges.
I could go into great discussion about the medical marijuana industry, but I’ll save that for a future post.
The reason for criminalizing marijuana in 1923 may never be truly known, but some conspiracy theorists believe it is the result of big businesses spreading misinformation. They believe that the super-rich conspired to tarnish the hemp industry because they realized how much money they would lose from their oil companies, cotton, pharmaceutical, alcohol and tobacco industries.
Hemp was the largest cash crop until the 20th century. In 1916, the U.S. Government predicted that by the 1940s all paper would come from hemp and we wouldn’t have to chop any more trees. Studies reported that one acre of hemp equaled 4.1 acres of trees (U.S. Department of Agriculture archives).
Whatever side of the law you are on, educate yourself and make your own decisions. As for my point of view, I fully support people opening their minds up to new realms of creativity with marijuana.
Gratuitous Infographic here: http://www.cannabisculture.com/blogs/2013/09/12/Pot-Nation-Infographic-National-Post