Recreational cannabis is finally set to be legal in Canada for July 1st.
Or maybe August.
By the end of the year, for reals.
Government getting in its own way, to the surprise of almost no one. Trudeau and his Liberal cohort were elected largely on their promise of weed legalization, and over two years later, it's finally coming. Or not. Having initially set a deadline of July 1st for legalization, the government has realized it probably can't meet this date that it definitely said it could meet. How not? It's real easy.
“Don't throw people in cages or extort them for possessing cannabis.”
Not the way government does things though. Not enough paperwork there. First, the feds get to make the minimum restrictions. Those include setting an age to purchase and possess, selecting the producers, how many personal plants a household can have, how many grams a person can have, etc.
Then what do the provinces get to do? Take those same things, and amplify them if they want. Saskatchewan has chosen to make age of purchase and possession 19, mirroring the alcohol law. They've also stuck in some absolutely archaic and guaranteed to be removed legislation like making cannabis a last stop purchase, meaning it must be purchased and then driven straight home. No stopping for munchies, you must buy those first. Does government sometimes just make up junk laws so they have something to remove later? What a way to guarantee yourself a role in the future, and they get to claim they learned something from the experience, only so they can do it again on the next issue! The rationale behind this is that theft would increase – well if police are fining people for this, then yeah, the theft is increasing – and that this would distinguish between personal use and personal possession. How the hell do you know where someone is going? And how do you see the cannabis anyway? This just seems like they want to do more roadside checks – oh, did I just stumble on something? Infringe more on freedoms. That is the government's way!
And then comes everyone's favourite part. The taxes. The feds are sticking a tax of $1/gram or 10% of price – whichever is higher, naturally – and the provinces will likely follow that up with a sin tax of their own. To put this in perspective, at present time, using a quick online search, it is possible to buy cannabis for $100 for an oz (28 grams) shipped to your door. Yes, qualities will vary, but assuming the province doubles up the fed's tax, that leaves less than $40 (factor in those sales taxes!) for the vendor, producer, and everyone else along the chain. So, how will this eliminate the black market? It won't, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Black market has been operating the weed game for a while, and they've got a great product, with competition keep things... competitive.
That's not the real fun, though. I mentioned government makes things more difficult than they have to, right? Well, right alongside Bill C-45 (cannabis legalization) comes Bill C-46, a sister bill, that deals with impaired driving, including making changes to alcohol rules. Yeah, go read that one. It's getting stuck in the Senate, likely cause they want to make snooping more permissible. So much for the Charter, ya know, sections 8 & 9.
Remember the days when people were presumed innocent until they did something to warrant not being thought as innocent? I don't, but I'm told they were great. Maybe common sense will prevail and we'll get back to that. Maybe people just need to sit back and chill and stop telling others what to do. Have a joint. Can't have a cookie, though. Those won't be good to go until next year. Or after.
This is just the government angle. I'll deal with the anti-weed people another day. They're a special group.