Trudeau asked about potential of Canada's marijuana industry
- Thread starter Gmack420
- Start date
VIANARCHRIS
Well-Known Member
As long as personal grows are part of the equation, it sounds reasonable. Two comments stand out..."controlled and regulated" hopefully meaning 'similar to alcohol and tobacco' and "take the profits away from organized crime and street gangs"....that ain't going to happen by forcing over-priced LP weed as the only show in town. It'd be nice if he actually gave us some insight as to what they are planning so we can rip it apart as needed before it gets too far.
CalyxCrusher
Well-Known Member
http://www.thecannabist.co/2016/06/10/canada-pm-justin-trudeau-teens-marijuana-legalization-crime/56057/
This high-level politician just made an incredibly credible case for legalization
Canada PM Justin Trudeau notes that in the current system of prohibition, it's incredibly easy for teens to procure marijuana, and that black-market weed sales feed organized crime; government regulation would make both easier to control
Published: Jun 10, 2016, 8:02 pm
By Christopher Ingraham, The Washington Post
Speaking Wednesday at an economic conference, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made one of the more buttoned-down, straight-edged arguments for marijuana legalization I’ve heard in recent years. It’s worth quoting at length so I’ve done that below:
"Look, our approach on legalizing marijuana is not about creating a boutique industry or bringing in tax revenue, it’s based on two very simple principles:
The first one is, young people have easier access to cannabis now, in Canada, than they do in just about any other countries in the world. (Of) 29 different countries studied by the U.N., Canada was number one in terms of underage access to marijuana. And whatever you might think or studies seen about cannabis being less harmful than alcohol or even cigarettes, the fact is it is bad for the developing brain and we need to make sure that it’s harder for underage Canadians to access marijuana. And that will happen under a controlled and regulated regime.
The other piece of it is there are billions upon billions of dollars flowing into the pockets of organized crime, street gangs and gun-runners, because of the illicit marijuana trade, and if we can get that out of the criminal elements and into a more regulated fashion we will reduce the amount of criminal activity that’s profiting from those, and that has offshoots into so many other criminal activities. So those are my focuses on that.
I have no doubt that Canadians and entrepreneurs will be tremendously innovative in finding ways to create positive economic benefits from the legalization and control of marijuana, but our focus is on protecting kids and protecting our streets."
Trudeau made these remarks in response to a conference participant who said that “Canada could be to cannabis as France is to wine.” These enthusiastic predictions about the burgeoning marijuana industry — billions of dollars in revenue and taxes, thousands of jobs created — should be familiar to anyone who’s followed efforts to legalize pot here in the United States.
But Trudeau’s argument for legalization is concerned less with creating benefits, and more with reducing harms. He starts from the same place that many legalization opponents start from – concern for the safety of children.
Opponents of legalization have always argued that relaxing marijuana laws will inevitably lead to increased use among teens and adolescents. This would obviously be a problem, because younger users are more at risk for marijuana dependency than adults, and heavy use among teens has been linked to a whole host of social and mental health problems.
But Trudeau points to an easy-to-overlook fact: It’s already incredibly easy for teenagers to get high if they want to. In 2015, for instance, nearly 80 percent of U.S. 12th-graders said it would be easy for them to obtain marijuana. It’s clear, in other words, that current policies centered on making the drug completely illegal are doing little to keep it out of the hands of kids who want to use it.
Trudeau argues that taking pot out of the black market and putting it under the aegis of a regulatory structure will actually make it harder for kids — those most susceptible to the drug’s harms — to obtain it. We don’t really know yet if that’s the case. Legalization experiments in Colorado and elsewhere are still too young to draw sweeping conclusions about the effects of legalization on teen use and access.
That said, the early data is encouraging. A recent study published in Lancet Psychiatry found that the over the past decade or so — as 13 states passed medical-marijuana laws, 10 states relaxed penalties for marijuana use, and Colorado and Washington became the first states to fully legalize recreational pot use — not only have national teen marijuana use rates declined, but problems associated with teen marijuana use, like dependency, have fallen too.
Beyond that, the latest federal data shows no significant year-over-year change in marijuana use among teens in Colorado and Washington in the year after marijuana became legal there.
Experts say none of this is particularly surprising. “Most of the legal changes have pertained only to those 21 and over, so the absence of a big increase in teens is exactly what you’d expect,” Jonathan Caulkins of Carnegie Mellon University told me late last year.
In short, it may be the case that marijuana legalization will have a much smaller impact on teen use rates than once feared. This doesn’t mean that legalization doesn’t bring risks of its own, however. If marijuana is more widely available, more people will use it, and a certain percent of them will develop a dependency on the drug. And another subset of users will end up doing incredibly stupid or dangerous things while high.
But the question is weighing these very real risks of harm against the harms that are already occurring because of prohibition. Marijuana prohibition ruins lives – lives of the hundreds of thousands of people arrested for possessing the drug each year, or the lives of thousands of people put behind bars for years on account of simple marijuana possession, or the lives of people living in the communities wracked by violence when rival drug gangs fight over turf and put innocents in the crossfire.
Trudeau is saying that this current approach isn’t working, and that people legitimately concerned over the harms of the drug trade should consider a radically different approach. So far, the evidence is backing him up.
This high-level politician just made an incredibly credible case for legalization
Canada PM Justin Trudeau notes that in the current system of prohibition, it's incredibly easy for teens to procure marijuana, and that black-market weed sales feed organized crime; government regulation would make both easier to control
Published: Jun 10, 2016, 8:02 pm
By Christopher Ingraham, The Washington Post
Speaking Wednesday at an economic conference, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made one of the more buttoned-down, straight-edged arguments for marijuana legalization I’ve heard in recent years. It’s worth quoting at length so I’ve done that below:
"Look, our approach on legalizing marijuana is not about creating a boutique industry or bringing in tax revenue, it’s based on two very simple principles:
The first one is, young people have easier access to cannabis now, in Canada, than they do in just about any other countries in the world. (Of) 29 different countries studied by the U.N., Canada was number one in terms of underage access to marijuana. And whatever you might think or studies seen about cannabis being less harmful than alcohol or even cigarettes, the fact is it is bad for the developing brain and we need to make sure that it’s harder for underage Canadians to access marijuana. And that will happen under a controlled and regulated regime.
The other piece of it is there are billions upon billions of dollars flowing into the pockets of organized crime, street gangs and gun-runners, because of the illicit marijuana trade, and if we can get that out of the criminal elements and into a more regulated fashion we will reduce the amount of criminal activity that’s profiting from those, and that has offshoots into so many other criminal activities. So those are my focuses on that.
I have no doubt that Canadians and entrepreneurs will be tremendously innovative in finding ways to create positive economic benefits from the legalization and control of marijuana, but our focus is on protecting kids and protecting our streets."
Trudeau made these remarks in response to a conference participant who said that “Canada could be to cannabis as France is to wine.” These enthusiastic predictions about the burgeoning marijuana industry — billions of dollars in revenue and taxes, thousands of jobs created — should be familiar to anyone who’s followed efforts to legalize pot here in the United States.
But Trudeau’s argument for legalization is concerned less with creating benefits, and more with reducing harms. He starts from the same place that many legalization opponents start from – concern for the safety of children.
Opponents of legalization have always argued that relaxing marijuana laws will inevitably lead to increased use among teens and adolescents. This would obviously be a problem, because younger users are more at risk for marijuana dependency than adults, and heavy use among teens has been linked to a whole host of social and mental health problems.
But Trudeau points to an easy-to-overlook fact: It’s already incredibly easy for teenagers to get high if they want to. In 2015, for instance, nearly 80 percent of U.S. 12th-graders said it would be easy for them to obtain marijuana. It’s clear, in other words, that current policies centered on making the drug completely illegal are doing little to keep it out of the hands of kids who want to use it.
Trudeau argues that taking pot out of the black market and putting it under the aegis of a regulatory structure will actually make it harder for kids — those most susceptible to the drug’s harms — to obtain it. We don’t really know yet if that’s the case. Legalization experiments in Colorado and elsewhere are still too young to draw sweeping conclusions about the effects of legalization on teen use and access.
That said, the early data is encouraging. A recent study published in Lancet Psychiatry found that the over the past decade or so — as 13 states passed medical-marijuana laws, 10 states relaxed penalties for marijuana use, and Colorado and Washington became the first states to fully legalize recreational pot use — not only have national teen marijuana use rates declined, but problems associated with teen marijuana use, like dependency, have fallen too.
Beyond that, the latest federal data shows no significant year-over-year change in marijuana use among teens in Colorado and Washington in the year after marijuana became legal there.
Experts say none of this is particularly surprising. “Most of the legal changes have pertained only to those 21 and over, so the absence of a big increase in teens is exactly what you’d expect,” Jonathan Caulkins of Carnegie Mellon University told me late last year.
In short, it may be the case that marijuana legalization will have a much smaller impact on teen use rates than once feared. This doesn’t mean that legalization doesn’t bring risks of its own, however. If marijuana is more widely available, more people will use it, and a certain percent of them will develop a dependency on the drug. And another subset of users will end up doing incredibly stupid or dangerous things while high.
But the question is weighing these very real risks of harm against the harms that are already occurring because of prohibition. Marijuana prohibition ruins lives – lives of the hundreds of thousands of people arrested for possessing the drug each year, or the lives of thousands of people put behind bars for years on account of simple marijuana possession, or the lives of people living in the communities wracked by violence when rival drug gangs fight over turf and put innocents in the crossfire.
Trudeau is saying that this current approach isn’t working, and that people legitimately concerned over the harms of the drug trade should consider a radically different approach. So far, the evidence is backing him up.
VIANARCHRIS
Well-Known Member
While most of the article made sense, the writer kinda lost credibility with this statement. Firstly, he fails to provide any evidence to back up his claims. Where is the study showing how cannabis use is going to go up significantly simply because it's legal. Everyone who wants to partake, does so already. He also forgets to provide any proof to his dependency theory. Every study I've ever read says cannabis use is less addictive than caffeine. The last part is the best tho...which subset is going to do incredibly stupid and dangerous things, would they not be the ones already doing those things? I'd say alcohol and age are the major contributing factors for intoxicated stupidity, legalizing pot isn't going to fix or increase that. Nobody can understand the effects of cannabis use or level of impairment until they experience it. Trying to compare the impact of legal cannabis on society to the mess booze causes just illustrates their ignorance.
CannaReview
Well-Known Member
How, will magic unicorns spray invisibility dust on kids so it makes then now see cannabis anymore? How will cannabis being available at every liquor store not do more "harm to kids" as they say than the back market which is less visible.
jafro daweedhound
Well-Known Member
WHATFG
Well-Known Member
his is giving us insight as to what is coming down the pipe....control and regulation...it's what he's not saying that I'm interested in.
jafro daweedhound
Well-Known Member
Trudeau was approached by a group called NORML Women’s Alliance of Canada who said pot was too easy to access for teenagers. It was easier to buy than cigarettes and booze, they said. They wanted marijuana regulated, controlled and legalized.
If people needed ID to buy marijuana, they told Trudeau, the black market would dry up. If there were severe penalties for selling it near a school, students would have a harder time accessing it, they added.
“That line of argument did a long way towards convincing me as well,” he said. Keeping it out of the hands of teenagers can happen only if you require people to show ID and if you maintain quality control, Trudeau said.
Sounds like you will need your papers and an arm band. Just like in Nazi Germany. Ahh the good old days, right uNcLe bill????
If people needed ID to buy marijuana, they told Trudeau, the black market would dry up. If there were severe penalties for selling it near a school, students would have a harder time accessing it, they added.
“That line of argument did a long way towards convincing me as well,” he said. Keeping it out of the hands of teenagers can happen only if you require people to show ID and if you maintain quality control, Trudeau said.
Sounds like you will need your papers and an arm band. Just like in Nazi Germany. Ahh the good old days, right uNcLe bill????
doingdishes
Well-Known Member
don't you need to show ID when you buy booze?? that's keeping it away from kids. i know i could have never gone into a liquor store when i was under age and get served....HAHAHAHAAAA
jafro daweedhound
Well-Known Member
Not since the 70's. My impression was everyone would need ID, not just young people, who knows, maybe micro chipping ( Im kidding). When we were 15 - 16 we would go to the bar, no problems most the time, turned 18 at it was no fun any more...
It may have changed now, but back in the 80's you had to show ID and it was recorded when you bought booze in Norman Wells NWT. You were restricted to so much a day.
And I'm not sure, but I think bill drew that mustache in with a felt pen....
doingdishes
Well-Known Member
i remember going to the Cecil just off Whyte Ave when i was 16...saw my first stripper there and that was nasty!
i went to Rusty's and saw what real strippers looked like..WOW
i went to Rusty's and saw what real strippers looked like..WOW
Tektek
Well-Known Member
I hear black market street pot for teens is absolute garbage.
Because the dealers can get away with it.
Contaminated with who know? Could easily be harmful.
Flood the rec market with decent pot to protect teen health. Because if they want pot, they will get it.
Better for teens to drink "safe" beer or wine from a store, than home brew that could kill them.
Because the dealers can get away with it.
Contaminated with who know? Could easily be harmful.
Flood the rec market with decent pot to protect teen health. Because if they want pot, they will get it.
Better for teens to drink "safe" beer or wine from a store, than home brew that could kill them.
jafro daweedhound
Well-Known Member
I have noticed they seem to do not bad, when I was a teenager we got Mexican seed primo crap, mold, what ever. Look how well I turned out !........ I heard that.....