British Columbia NDP Majority Government 2024-(no later than) 2029

[YZT580]

Why? Keeping it illegal was irrational. Alcohol causes vastly more and larger problems, yet we have bars and liquor stores, and you you can buy booze in grocery stores and gas stations in some provinces. Yeah, legalization has led to a bit of a Wild West of pot shops, but proper bylaw enforcement and market dynamics is working to settle that down to a proper balance of what the market actually supports.

I’ve never touched the stuff myself, but I see way less harm to society from cannabis than from alcohol, and most of us are able to regularly and responsibly partake in the latter.

perhaps you need to have a frank discussion with an addict and there are far more of them causing problems in the justice system then there are alcoholics. Most will tell you that it all started with pot.

 

[brihard]

perhaps you need to have a frank discussion with an addict and there are far more of them causing problems in the justice system then there are alcoholics. Most will tell you that it all started with pot.

Yeah, I’ve had a pretty direct view of all of that both in my personal life and as a cop, but thanks.

There’s limited academic support for the ‘gateway drug’ hypothesis. It’s been studied at length, there is association but not causation, and the hypothesis fails to account for a host of other factors. Whatever exists to support that notion for cannabis, I’m bloody sure similar support would be found for alcohol. The plural of anecdote is never data; anecdotally though I’ve dealt with no shortage of drunk people being destructive or violent. When I was dealing with violent youth who had substances onboard, it was usually alcohol. Society’s extremely permissive views of alcohol mean that abuse is pervasive and across all of society, and access is very easy.

So, all that to say, there doesn’t appear to be a rational, evidentiary-based reason for treating cannabis as if it’s somehow worse than alcohol, and banning the one but not the other. If neither existed today, both popped into being unregulated tomorrow, and we studied them both for three years, if anything we would likely see more societal harm from alcohol.

 

[YZT580]

Yeah, I’ve had a pretty direct view of all of that both in my personal life and as a cop, but thanks.

There’s limited academic support for the ‘gateway drug’ hypothesis. It’s been studied at length, there is association but not causation, and the hypothesis fails to account for a host of other factors. Whatever exists to support that notion for cannabis, I’m bloody sure similar support would be found for alcohol. The plural of anecdote is never data; anecdotally though I’ve dealt with no shortage of drunk people being destructive or violent. When I was dealing with violent youth who had substances onboard, it was usually alcohol. Society’s extremely permissive views of alcohol mean that abuse is pervasive and across all of society, and access is very easy.

So, all that to say, there doesn’t appear to be a rational, evidentiary-based reason for treating cannabis as if it’s somehow worse than alcohol, and banning the one but not the other. If neither existed today, both popped into being unregulated tomorrow, and we studied them both for three years, if anything we would likely see more societal harm from alcohol.

I suppose that family experiences causes one to have different opinions so I will leave it at that except for one little thing. I lived in Acton when the Olde Hide House was an actual tannery and I live now near a greenhouse grow-op. I'll take the tannery thanks. Pot stinks

 

[brihard]

I suppose that family experiences causes one to have different opinions so I will leave it at that except for one little thing. I lived in Acton when the Olde Hide House was an actual tannery and I live now near a greenhouse grow-op. I'll take the tannery thanks. Pot stinks

Oh it smells like shit, absolutely agreed. I can’t stand the smell of the stuff, for me it’s almost as bad as cigarette smoke. I’m just talking about from a public policy perspective whether it objectively makes sense to treat cannabis and alcohol particularly differently.

 

[mariomike]

Most will tell you that it all started with pot.

That's for the medical SMEs to answer.

Never studied addiction. But, the drunks and druggies kept our place in business. < slight exaggeration emoji.

Job Protection I suppose would be the correct term.

 

[Humphrey Bogart]

Yeah, I’ve had a pretty direct view of all of that both in my personal life and as a cop, but thanks.

There’s limited academic support for the ‘gateway drug’ hypothesis. It’s been studied at length, there is association but not causation, and the hypothesis fails to account for a host of other factors. Whatever exists to support that notion for cannabis, I’m bloody sure similar support would be found for alcohol. The plural of anecdote is never data; anecdotally though I’ve dealt with no shortage of drunk people being destructive or violent. When I was dealing with violent youth who had substances onboard, it was usually alcohol. Society’s extremely permissive views of alcohol mean that abuse is pervasive and across all of society, and access is very easy.

So, all that to say, there doesn’t appear to be a rational, evidentiary-based reason for treating cannabis as if it’s somehow worse than alcohol, and banning the one but not the other. If neither existed today, both popped into being unregulated tomorrow, and we studied them both for three years, if anything we would likely see more societal harm from alcohol.

My biggest complaint is that Marijuana makes people lazy, not permanently lazy but it has an effect ok decreasing motivation. It also makes people kind of stupid.

I also find it funny that the Govt goes hard-core when it comes to Tobacco, yet Marijuana doesn't receive nearly as much scrutiny.