Pretty good odds you’re aware that Canada legalized marijuana (cannabis/weed) on Wednesday.  This was an election promise from 2 years ago, and more like 10 years in the making.  Holland was the first country, and there are certainly many states/provinces globally that have also taken this change to heart.  Still, there are about 40 million people here, so it would be fair to say that we’re the largest group globally with this new law.

I won’t argue the merits of taking drugs.  I won’t bother discussing the various strains with all level of THC.  Or the empirical data supporting medicinal use.  There are more than enough posts/blogs/studies/evaluations/theses on this to blind a man.

From a personal lens, this has nearly zero impact.  I don’t use it, and have no plans to use it.  There’s already plenty of it to go around.  Walking pretty much anywhere downtown, you’d get a whiff of it.  It was always going to be part of the “drugs are bad, mmkay” talk with the kids.  People still can’t smoke in cars, or in non-smoking areas (99% of buildings).  Can’t show up to work blazed.

Big scope it’s going to take a long time to figure out.  Sure, it probably will mean cleaner strains (no fentanyl) for those that go through official supply lines.  More variety.  The price point will need to be tweaked to offset organized crime supply lines – just like contraband cigarettes.  The changes to society are going to take quite a few years to sort out.  We’re a large (physically) country, with different cultures from coast to coast – hard to say how NL will cope with this as compared to BC, which was practically legal there anyhow.

There will be the negative voices on this as well.  There always are for any change.  Think about the children! they will scream.  Of course think of the children.  Who doesn’t?  It’s not like this is saying “give $20 weed-infused gummy bears on Hallowe’en”.   Who would even think of actually giving that away, or what parent would accept gummies in a ziplock for their kid?  And if they did, do you think now those kids are in danger?

There are plenty of cautions to this change, lessons to be applied from other areas, and tweaks that will be made along the way.  Nothing is ever perfect.  But damn if this isn’t something interesting to talk about that doesn’t feel like a Twilight Zone episode.