November 23, 2018
Cannabis is now legal in Canada. What does that mean?
Behind all the hoopla of cannabis being legal now in Canada, there is a subset of consumers who have had a huge burden lifted off them, a hidden misery lifted.
Life just became a bit easier because vindictive, spiteful people in their lives can no longer wield cannabis prohibition as a weapon. Who are these people?
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April 17, 2018
There is much said about educating people on the harms of cannabis.
According to some scientific studies that are prolific in the media, cannabis can lead to psychosis – especially in youth. It can also be harmful to the developing brain and should not be used by those under the age of 25.
There are other scientific studies that show these results are inconclusive and other studies that show the opposite, though they receive very little media coverage.
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March 26, 2018
Legalization of cannabis is coming and we will all be home free! Or will we?
Although generally, it will be a relief for many people to be able to possess cannabis legally, I and many others have serious concerns about the regulations, especially around impaired driving laws. While many business types are running around with dollar signs in their eyes, the person on the street should be alarmed to know that he/she could just as likely become a criminal under “legalization” as they were during prohibition.
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January 15, 2018
Sitting or standing around in a group passing a joint is a national past time in this great land of ours. I’m not sure how the custom originated, as you don’t often see people sharing cigarettes or beers the same way, but nonetheless, it happens with cannabis. It is not just joints either, people share bongs, pipes, vaporizers and any device that you can smoke cannabis from.
It is a custom we may want to rethink. While smoking cannabis has negligible effects on your health, placing your mouth on the same pipe, joint, or bong as everyone else, especially during cold and flu season, may have unwanted effects along with the intended effects of getting high. It won’t be cannabis that makes you sick, it will be the sharing of contagious germs.
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THE CONSEQUENCES
500,000 Canadians have admitted to driving after using marijuana in the past 12 months. Nearly 40% of those were aged 15-24.
http://beleave.com/consequencestrains/
THE FACTS
The year 2015 saw a decrease in the number of serious injuries, yet showed a slight increase in fatalities and total injuries.
• In 2015, the number of motor vehicle fatalities was 1,858; up 0.3% from 2014 (1,852).
• The downward trend for serious injuries continued, dropping to 10,280 in 2015; down 1.1% from 2014 (10,397).
• The number of fatalities per 100,000 population was 5.2 in 2015; unchanged from the rate seen in 2014.
• The number of fatalities per billion vehicle kilometres travelled was 5.1 in 2015, the lowest on record.
https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/motorvehiclesafety/tp-tp3322-2015-1487.html
In 2014, the number of motor vehicle fatalities was 1,834; down 6.0% from 2013 (1,951).
• The downward trend for serious injuries continued, dropping to 9,647 in 2014; down 9.5% from 2013 (10,663).
• The number of fatalities per 100,000 population was 5.2 in 2014, down from 5.5 in 2013.
• The number of fatalities per billion vehicle kilometres travelled was 5.1 in 2014; the lowest on record.
http://www.tc.gc.ca/media/documents/roadsafety/cmvtcs2014_eng.pdf
A consistent downward trend since 2006
https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/motorvehiclesafety/tp-tp3322-2015-1487.html
October 16, 2017
There are many predictions of a chronic cannabis shortage when it is legalized. No matter how smooth the provincial governments pave the way, it all ends with out-of-stock producers holding up the line.
There are measures that could help alleviate the shortage, namely legal personal growers who are licensed under the ACMPR. You are supposed to only grow enough for your own needs, based on a per gram a day limit. Each gram translates into 5 plants. Continue reading
September 15, 2017
The Ontario government has unveiled it’s plan to regulate cannabis in the province in July 2018. Lawmakers believe they can eliminate the black market by opening 40 government run stores and a mail order delivery in the first year, followed by 40 more stores in 2019 and 150 by 2020. They will shut down all illegal dispensaries before the official stores are open. The local neighbourhood dealer better be well prepared for all the business that will come their way.
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March 28, 2017
You are consuming some cannabis with your friends and feeling wonderful, but one more hit, and not so much. After a few moments, you begin to feel woozy, light-headed, dizzy, anxiety is welling up; you may feel nauseous, and even vomit. You are desperately seeking somewhere to lie or sit down if you haven’t got there already.
Cannabis consumers may be familiar with the term “greening out”, which means when one has over indulged ingesting cannabis, and are now experiencing unpleasant effects such as dizziness, fainting, anxiety or vomiting.
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March 6, 2017
International Journal of Drug Policy
We hear how well Licensed Producers (LP’s) are doing in the legal medical cannabis market, how stocks are going up, the market is expanding, and everything is rosy and fine. But there are many problems with the legal market that are being masked by the entrenched grey market. The proof is summarized in a paper entitled, “Medical Cannabis Access, Use, And Substitution For Prescription Opioids And Other Substances: A Survey Of Authorized Medical Cannabis Patients,” published recently in the International Journal of Drug Policy. (1)
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November 20, 2016
Some people who are experienced with cannabis see a huge need to help educate the public and politicians about this plant because fear seems to abound everywhere. There is still so much misinformation coming from some authoritative sources, and unravelling decades of propaganda is no small task. Most people don’t know that cannabis has never caused a single death in thousands of years of use, and that by over-regulating it to address perceived harms could be a futile effort in the face of a long established illegal market that has been around for decades.
Throughout our lifetimes, cannabis has been a part of society in the worst possible way – total prohibition, which in reality means, no rules, anything goes. Ten and twelve year old children buy, sell and smoke it, and have for decades. Now the rhetoric to strictly regulate and restrict access, implies we will be under an extreme opposite cannabis regime, albeit, a legal one
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