We should be subsidizing solar, not oil. The oil companies are 19th century dirty energy, totally dependent on taxpayer welfare. Let’s follow Germany’s leadership.
Yes, let’s evolve instead of acting like oil (which is the equivalent of an Edison Dictaphone) is still state of the art energy technology!
Because cannabis was illegal before any sort of scientific testing was done, there has been precious little modern scientific study of the substance. What little study there has been suggests negative effects of cannabis are less harmful than many other substances that can be purchased openly and legally by anyone. Like aspirin. People can kill themselves with aspirin. But it is physically impossible for anyone to kill themselves with cannabis.
The worst health risks with cannabis centre around the fact that it is most often smoked in combination with tobacco, and we now know tobacco is hazardous to our health. And yet the Canadian Government only allowed patients access to edibles after another Supreme Court challenge.
“We believe, however, that the continued prohibition of cannabis jeopardizes the health and well-being of Canadians much more than does the substance itself or the regulated marketing of the substance. In addition, we believe that the continued criminalization of cannabis undermines the fundamental values set out in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and confirmed in the history of a country based on diversity and tolerance.” — Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs (2002) REPORT OF THE SENATE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON ILLEGAL DRUGS
And yet the Canadian Government promising cannabis legalization has increased it’s war on cannabis even more. They are cracking down on cannabis at a frantic pace in the lead up to legalization.
The loudest and most effective cannabis activists in Canadian history are Marc and Jodie Emery. Today, they accepted probation and hefty fines in a plea deal to allow 17 others to walk free.
Cannabis has been used as a medicine for thousands of years.
It was used medicinally in Canada through the 19th century and into the 20th. Until out of the blue it was “added to the schedule” of prohibited drugs.
Even so, cannabis wasn’t even a social problem when it became illegal in 1923. Most Canadians hadn’t even heard of it. But the laws against it got harsher and harsher just the same.
At the beginning of the 21st century, cannabis activists were finally heard by the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled denying Canadians access to medical marijuana violated their human rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. So the Canadian Government was obligated to change this, and it did.
But badly.
Because powerful people like ex-Toronto Police Chief (also ex-York Region and ex-London Police Chief) turned Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino passionately opposed any sort of legalization.
“I guess we can legalize murder too and then we won’t have a murder case. We can’t go that way.” —Julian Fantino, Ottawa Sun April 20th, 2004
Cannabis activists ran “grey market” dispensaries that made better quality cannabis available to medical marijuana patients at a lower cost than the government.
French pioneer apothecary Louis Hébert was the first European farmer in Canada. Cannabis Sativa, a plant known as “hemp,” was one of his crops.
The sails of sailing ships, canvas, rope, and linen were all manufactured from the rugged fibres of the hemp plant. As was the earliest known paper. Hemp dominated the paper trade until it was replaced by wood fibre in the 1800s.
Today (Monday December 18, 2017) cannabis activists Mark and Jodie Emery and 17 Cannabis Culture employees who were arrested in the cannabis crackdown preceding the Trudeau Government’s cannabis legalization.
