VIANARCHRIS
Well-Known Member
Canada is a country, right? Canadian law is supposed to apply equally, everywhere, to all of us, right?
So why is marijuana openly for sale by retailers all over Vancouver and Victoria, while elsewhere in the country, people still are getting busted for a lousy joint?
That’s more like two different countries than one country.
In Vancouver and Victoria, the retail business operates under the rubric of medical marijuana. Hardly anyone takes this medical aspect seriously. To buy a sack of weed, you need only present a prescription or facsimile thereof. It doesn’t even have to be a prescription for medical marijuana. Show a prescription for anything — an antibiotic for a sinus infection, an anti-inflammatory for a sprained ankle, ointment for a rash … anything — and they will sell you a sack of weed. You can show them an old prescription pill bottle or even a picture on your iPhone of an old pill bottle and they will sell you a sack of weed.
Some retailers don’t even need this much. I have heard of a place in Victoria that will sell you a sack of weed if you claim an arthritic thumb. Try finding someone in Victoria who doesn’t have an arthritic thumb.
In other words, marijuana in those cities is practically legal. Here in Saskatoon, and in most other Canadian cities, marijuana still is treated as if the Criminal Code applies. What gives? How is it even close to fair for some Canadians to be arrested, handcuffed, charged and convicted for what other Canadians are allowed to do with impunity?
A similar hodgepodge applies in the U.S., but criminal law down there is the purview of individual states. That’s why marijuana is legal, semi-legal or strictly prohibited, depending on what state you’re in. Federal authorities, however, still embrace prohibition, so you could be busted in the customs corral at the Denver airport for what is perfectly legal just outside the gate. Aspen-bound snowboarders beware.
In Canada, the criminal law is exclusively under federal jurisdiction. The Criminal Code of Canada applies everywhere, to all Canadians, except, apparently, for the sections dealing with marijuana. That’s why the proprietors of Saskatoon’s marijuana dispensary are facing charges while their counterparts in Vancouver are politely invited to apply for municipal licenses.
It is not just the criminal law where this crazy quilt applies. Medical authorities likewise are all over the place. In Saskatchewan, it reportedly is impossible to find a doctor who will prescribe medical marijuana. It is possible, however, to get a prescription here over Skype from a doctor in Vancouver. Easier still is just to buy from the black market and leave authorities out of the picture entirely, the best place for them, more often than not. Perversely, Saskatchewan is home to a leading, federally-licensed producer of medical marijuana whose product is unavailable in the province where it is produced because doctors here won’t prescribe it. Why not is for them to explain to those it seems to help.
Meanwhile, in Ottawa, the governing Liberals have put a former Toronto police chief in charge of delivering on their promise to legalize marijuana. That’s like putting David Suzuki in charge of oil pipelines. Legal marijuana under this regime will be about as easy to get as high explosives.
The Liberals are too late anyway, at least in Vancouver and Victoria, where de facto legalization already is in effect, and without apparent chaos or anarchy. What stinks worse than weed is the geographic disparity of criminal law enforcement. We have achy thumbs here, too. Why can’t we have a therapeutic toot without worrying about police kicking in the door?
Of course, it is no excuse to ignore the law because others elsewhere are doing so. Unless it is. Our Charter of Rights and Freedoms says, “Every individual is equal before and under the law …” That’s not exactly consistent with licensed retailing in Vancouver and arrests in Saskatoon.
I just hate to think of the 200 or so Canadians convicted every day for marijuana offences because they don’t live in the right city.
So why is marijuana openly for sale by retailers all over Vancouver and Victoria, while elsewhere in the country, people still are getting busted for a lousy joint?
That’s more like two different countries than one country.
In Vancouver and Victoria, the retail business operates under the rubric of medical marijuana. Hardly anyone takes this medical aspect seriously. To buy a sack of weed, you need only present a prescription or facsimile thereof. It doesn’t even have to be a prescription for medical marijuana. Show a prescription for anything — an antibiotic for a sinus infection, an anti-inflammatory for a sprained ankle, ointment for a rash … anything — and they will sell you a sack of weed. You can show them an old prescription pill bottle or even a picture on your iPhone of an old pill bottle and they will sell you a sack of weed.
Some retailers don’t even need this much. I have heard of a place in Victoria that will sell you a sack of weed if you claim an arthritic thumb. Try finding someone in Victoria who doesn’t have an arthritic thumb.
In other words, marijuana in those cities is practically legal. Here in Saskatoon, and in most other Canadian cities, marijuana still is treated as if the Criminal Code applies. What gives? How is it even close to fair for some Canadians to be arrested, handcuffed, charged and convicted for what other Canadians are allowed to do with impunity?
A similar hodgepodge applies in the U.S., but criminal law down there is the purview of individual states. That’s why marijuana is legal, semi-legal or strictly prohibited, depending on what state you’re in. Federal authorities, however, still embrace prohibition, so you could be busted in the customs corral at the Denver airport for what is perfectly legal just outside the gate. Aspen-bound snowboarders beware.
In Canada, the criminal law is exclusively under federal jurisdiction. The Criminal Code of Canada applies everywhere, to all Canadians, except, apparently, for the sections dealing with marijuana. That’s why the proprietors of Saskatoon’s marijuana dispensary are facing charges while their counterparts in Vancouver are politely invited to apply for municipal licenses.
It is not just the criminal law where this crazy quilt applies. Medical authorities likewise are all over the place. In Saskatchewan, it reportedly is impossible to find a doctor who will prescribe medical marijuana. It is possible, however, to get a prescription here over Skype from a doctor in Vancouver. Easier still is just to buy from the black market and leave authorities out of the picture entirely, the best place for them, more often than not. Perversely, Saskatchewan is home to a leading, federally-licensed producer of medical marijuana whose product is unavailable in the province where it is produced because doctors here won’t prescribe it. Why not is for them to explain to those it seems to help.
Meanwhile, in Ottawa, the governing Liberals have put a former Toronto police chief in charge of delivering on their promise to legalize marijuana. That’s like putting David Suzuki in charge of oil pipelines. Legal marijuana under this regime will be about as easy to get as high explosives.
The Liberals are too late anyway, at least in Vancouver and Victoria, where de facto legalization already is in effect, and without apparent chaos or anarchy. What stinks worse than weed is the geographic disparity of criminal law enforcement. We have achy thumbs here, too. Why can’t we have a therapeutic toot without worrying about police kicking in the door?
Of course, it is no excuse to ignore the law because others elsewhere are doing so. Unless it is. Our Charter of Rights and Freedoms says, “Every individual is equal before and under the law …” That’s not exactly consistent with licensed retailing in Vancouver and arrests in Saskatoon.
I just hate to think of the 200 or so Canadians convicted every day for marijuana offences because they don’t live in the right city.
