Cannabis Stigma Three Signs in Canada

It’s not difficult to find three signs of cannabis stigma in Canada. Canada has never legalized cannabis because the war on drugs is immoral or because people have a right to consume a non-toxic plant.

The legalization of cannabis in Canada was and still is about “public health and safety”.

But these three signs suggest that cannabis legalization has been more about lining the pockets of a select few actors and a public sector that lives off taxpayers.

3. Cannabis stigma: excise taxes

Nothing says cannabis stigma better than levying excise taxes on a constitutionally protected drug.

But even if one could argue that certain goods and services should be subject to a “sin” tax, the way the cannabis industry works is nonsensical.

Bureaucrats expected cannabis to sell for $10 a gram. Unlike excise taxes in other industries, producers have to pay sin taxes on cannabis, not retail.

So instead of paying 10% on the finished product, efficient cannabis producers can pay up to 45%. The system works in such a way that the more efficient you are, the more excise duty you pay.

Since legalization in 2018, Canada’s cannabis industry has generated over $15.1 billion in tax revenue. $2.9 billion came from sales and use taxes.

Far from viewing excise taxes as a “stigma,” the Canadian government (whether represented by the red, blue, or orange team) will continue to take advantage of the cannabis industry.

2 Cannabis stigma: public health rules

Nowhere is cannabis stigma more prevalent in Canada than when it allows public health bureaucrats to make important decisions. Decisions are better left to the people who actually grow, buy, and sell cannabis.

Whether it’s personal possession limits, THC limits, clear packaging and anti-marketing rules, criminal law regulation of CBD, or other arbitrary choices better left to the consumer and producer.

The fact remains: Canada’s cannabis industry has a public health problem. And the cannabis stigma at Health Canada is a big part of that problem.

Despite the name “public health,” these bureaucrats don’t care about medical cannabis patients. They’re trying to rid Canada of a medicinal cannabis program.

“Public health” means to control and regulate you. Your choices, your choices, your ethics, your medicine, your diet, your life.

And these people dare to call themselves progressive. There is nothing “progressive” about expanding the government’s space and influence.

If Canada had been legalized in the 1990s, the Chrétien framework would have been statist. But it would have involved at least some common sense.

1 Cannabis stigma: deleting records and illegal markets

Legalization is about erasing criminal records and allowing growers and sellers to join the legal system.

Suppose you voted liberal in 2015 because they said they would legalize cannabis. Would you still have made the same decision if you now knew what they meant by “legalization”?

• That liberals would not legalize BC Bud culture and in fact misclassified it as a violent organized crime.
• That no deletions would be made. Ex-cops and politicians will benefit from legal weed, but not the non-violent “criminals” who are still behind bars, or those who face restrictions because of their cannabis history.
• That a whole new plastics industry would emerge, generating more than enough waste to outweigh any benefit of banning plastic straws and single-use grocery bags
• This recreational cannabis would be an excuse to undermine and eventually eradicate the medical cannabis program.
• That we would have a 10 mg THC limit for edibles
• That disguised window coverings and plain packaging were the retail norms? (If that doesn’t increase cannabis stigma, then what will?)
• That cannabis producers would not be able to build and market brands like beer, spirits and wine companies do

Many American states that have legalized cannabis have also included criminal record wipes. Because that’s what legalization is all about. Nothing says “cannabis stigma” like erasing non-violent criminal records for weed.

What happened to legal weed in Canada?

What Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party did was turn cannabis into a business. The only bright spot in Canada’s legalization is the home-grown aspect.

But even that is hampered by two facts:

1. There has been considerable debate over the legality of home growing.
2. It’s unlikely they would have approved home growing had it not been for Allard’s injunction.

Allard’s injunction gives patients a constitutional right to reasonable access to cannabis. This also includes self-cultivation. Would the liberals have shown the same courtesy to recreational breeders without them?

Quebec not. Canada’s French-speaking province has the strictest regime in the country. Edibles are more or less banned, and the courts have upheld their ban on home-growing (so far).

It’s not hard to find three signs of cannabis stigma in Canada. The rules surrounding legalization create new stigmas and perpetuate old ones.

Legalizing cannabis in Canada is not the model the world should follow. Just as Justin Trudeau is not the kind of political leader other countries should aspire to be.

Humans have a fundamental right to their bodies. Many leftists recognize this when it comes to abortion. The right recognizes this when it comes to vaccination orders.

But once you bring up drugs, even a “soft” drug like cannabis, all rationality disappears. The left has no problem adhering to “public health” mandates, even when they go against common sense. And the right has no problem demonizing drugs, even medicinal wonders like cannabis.

Canada’s cannabis stigma is still alive and well. It’s a lonely place for the freedom-loving smoker.

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