A conservative cannabis law? – Hemp | weed | marijuana

Is it possible that a Conservative Cannabis Act can undo the damage done by Justin’s legalization?

On October 17, 2018, the Canadian government legalized cannabis with strict stipulations on who can sell it, how to access legal products, and how much you can grow for personal use.

This top-down public health system divided BC Bud into two camps. Those who wanted to play by the rules and are trying to get legit. And those who saw the corporatization of their medicinal herb and said, “No thanks.”

Four years later, even major licensed producers are worried about the future of the cannabis industry. It seems you can’t take a public health approach and have a thriving commercial sector.

The two are incompatible, as the continued existence of the illegal market proves.

Canadians don’t buy moonshine made in bathtubs. Alcohol regulations across the country are liberal enough to discourage black markets.

This truth is so obvious that only the country’s “right” parties understand it. Unfortunately, only one of them is capable of winning the next election.

And it’s led by a leader who believes drugs are inherently harmful and that “addicts” need treatment and recovery.

A Conservative government headed by Pierre Poilievre is unlikely to take a 10-foot pole on cannabis law. But let’s assume they do. What would a conservative cannabis law look like?

Cannabis law is already conservative

Joseph Copley/Canva

If we go back to, say, 1972 and I told you Canada would legalize cannabis in 2018. Then I explained what the regime looked like. You may be wondering: Has the Conservative Party legalized cannabis?

Traditionally, liberals have been for individual rights. A real little liberal government would legalize cannabis for the same reason they don’t ban abortion: you own your body.

Do you want to fill your lungs with cannabis smoke? That is your prerogative. Just as you have every right to refuse a vaccine that you do not trust.

Liberals in the classic sense are about personal responsibility.

We already have laws on the books dealing with the legal cannabis industry. There is no reason to set up a task force or “panel of experts” to investigate the problem.

Health Canada does not have to enforce the rules.

If the Conservative Party were to legalize cannabis, they would do so for all of the reasons Justin Trudeau’s Liberals outlined in 2015.

We have to protect the children. We must remove the profits from criminal gangs.

The legalization of cannabis, as envisaged by the Cannabis Act, is an egalitarian idea. A conservative response to the failure of the drug war over weed.

Justin’s legalization is a Conservative Cannabis Act. From the erroneous public health and safety claims to the anti-marketing, plainly packaged, child-resistant plastic containers in which legal cannabis is sold.

The cannabis law fits right into the conservative camp.

Will Justin walk on the Weed ticket again?

Justin Trudeau could face an election when this cannabis law review is completed in 18 months. He might run the Weed ticket again as that’s the only real success he’s had with young people.

And young people are leaving the Liberals and the NDP in droves to join Poilievre’s common sense revolution.

We know Justin loves using wedge problems to divide Canadians amongst themselves.

The cannabis law review could propose raising the 10mg limit for edible THC to crowd out the black market. But public health busybodies won’t be in favor of it because it doesn’t protect “the kids.”

What do you think Justin will say? He will go where the polls lead him.

We know what Poilievre will do. Despite his public health condemnation for lockdowns and vaccination passes, he’s on board with her addiction, recovery and treatment rhetoric.

Luckily, if that’s part of Justin’s re-election plan, I don’t think it’s going to work.

It’s not 2015 anymore, for starters. Justin’s “sunny ways” have come and gone without anyone realizing they were even here.

It’s 2022 and people are struggling with the cost of living. Liberal commentators say inflation will not be a campaign issue if (or when) Canadians go to the polls in 2025.

But that’s ridiculous. The people saying this are the ones who didn’t see the inflationary crisis coming. And when it struck, they called it “temporary.”

The reality is that we are entering periods of economic depression the likes of which the world has not seen since the 1930’s.

Suppose Justin tries to pursue a more liberal legalization scheme.

Young people who live with their parents or put 80% of their income into their living expenses are unlikely to care.

What Pierre Poilievre told me

A conservative cannabis law?

I don’t see any Poilievre government touching the cannabis law.

If the 18-month review is completed in time for an election, perhaps a Poilievre government will implement its findings. Part of that continuity of government where Harper’s medical cannabis regulations aren’t that different from Justin Trudeau’s conservative cannabis law.

But how does Pierre Poilievre feel about freedom and the drug war? I decided to ask him. It took over a month for an email reply. And I suspect that was probably an employee or a bot, not Pierre himself.

Still, he signed his name, so this must be his opinion.

He wrote: “Dangerous and addictive drugs tear families apart, encourage criminal behavior and destroy lives. Instead of making it easier for drug addicts to use drugs, the liberal government should support treatment and recovery programs to discourage addicts from using drugs.”

(Which, on closer inspection, was taken verbatim from what Harold Albrecht said in the House of Commons on February 26, 2019).

So basically the same narrative as Ottawa and BC announced the decriminalization of drugs like opioids and cocaine.

Of course, politicians go into politics.

I don’t expect Poilievre to have as big an opinion on cannabis legalization as he does on abortion or gay marriage.

These issues are not worth disrupting the narrative that liberals will raise the cost of living while conservatives will lower it.

Anything that contradicts this narrative or is irrelevant will never see the light of day. That is the essence of democratic politics.

A conservative cannabis law

Courtesy of GreenCuisineCBD.com

Can a Conservative Cannabis Law Lower the Cost of Living? It sounds a little ridiculous, but it’s a topic I’ve covered here before.

Centuries of selective breeding have split the cannabis sativa genus into two identifiable crops: consumable cannabis and industrial hemp.

Hemp is possibly the most sustainable crop in the world. It is certainly one of the fastest growing. It requires little water, no pesticides and returns nutrients to the topsoil.

Instead of banning plastic bags and straws, the government can encourage hemp-made plastic with targeted tax breaks and subsidies.

Hemp is also suitable for textiles. Although Canada grows little to no cotton, we rely heavily on it. Which requires pesticides that accumulate in the soil and contaminate drinking water.

Deforestation is a problem solved by hemp cultivation.

Hemp cultivation can also complement and eventually overtake our oil production. Hemp biodiesel is not a fringe idea, an impracticable idea.

A conservative cannabis law might consider cannabis and hemp as untapped resources.

Essential to protecting the planet’s topsoil and conserving Canada’s resources while reducing plastic, pollution and waste.

All without a CO2 tax.

Poilievre Conservatives might not make this a campaign issue this time. But that’s the way to go if they want to decimate the Liberals and the NDP in future elections.

The Liberal Cannabis Act treats cannabis as a drug worse than heroin, subjecting it to taxes and regulations that end up doing more harm than good.

A Conservative Cannabis Act could help protect the environment.

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