What does a Poilievre win mean for cannabis?

Pierre Poilievre became leader of the Conservative Party last weekend, but what does that mean for cannabis?

Conservatives in Canada have typically supported the drug war. Just as liberals believe that guns, not irresponsible people with guns, are the problem, conservatives tend to hate drugs rather than blame the irresponsible drug users.

But if you consider that Pierre Poilievre is pursuing a more libertarian-oriented message. With his stated goal of making Canada the freest country in the world, one has to ask, what does a Poilievre victory mean for cannabis and the drug war?

And what will happen if (or when) he beats Justin Trudeau in the next election?

Who is Poilievre and what does he think about cannabis?

Poilievre is now the leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. With 68% in the first ballot, he has a clear mandate to reshape the party in his image.

The corporate press believes Poilievre should now “moderate” his message and adopt liberal positions in order to appeal to large numbers of Canadians.

But that’s the last thing he should do and I don’t think he will. Part of Poilievre’s appeal is that he doesn’t rely on old media to get his message across.

And he doesn’t care what they say about him.

While previous leaders like Erin O’Toole have tried to tone down their message and sound more liberal than liberals, Pierre Poilievre has transcended typical left-right politics. And that’s exactly what makes the corporate press seethe.

Like Trump, the more they hate him, the more they label him dangerous and radical, call his positions a straw man and be finicky about his every move, the more appeal he will have.

Well, a Poilievre win is all well and good for people who care about the cost of living. Or about our restricted civil liberties under this awakened liberal government.

But what about cannabis?

Although cannabis is already legal, despite the absolute state of incompetence and narcissism of Justin Trudeau’s government, there are Canadian stoners out there who will happily vote red again.

Until Poilievre’s conservatives issue an official cannabis policy, Poilievre’s appeal will come from his sane approach to business, not his views on the drug war.

Indeed, if we look at his earlier pronouncements, this is one area where Poilievre sounds like a moderate.

Like liberal politicians or public health busybodies, Poilievre believes drugs are addictive and that it’s the federal government’s job to regulate them.

What does a Poilievre win mean for cannabis?

On Monday November 27, 2017, the House of Commons met to vote on the Cannabis Act. Pierre Poilievre voted no.

Enough said. Right?

If you are a cannabis smoking Canadian supporting Poilievre then you are an idiot. No further comments or explanations are needed.

Of course, we shouldn’t forget the sponsor of the bill – the Honorable Jody Wilson-Raybould.

Who was she again? What happened to her?

That’s right – Canada’s former Attorney General. She was forced out of her position because she did not want Justin’s political interference to undermine the rule of law.

As she told the House of Commons Judiciary Committee in 2019:

“Over a period of approximately four months, between September and December 2018, I witnessed a consistent and sustained effort by many people within government to politically intervene in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in my role as Attorney General of Canada. in an unreasonable attempt to reach a deferred prosecution agreement with SNC-Lavalin.”

And that’s not Justin Trudeau’s only flirtation with corruption. We have compiled a list here.

And the crazy part is? We posted this just five months ago, and already there have been new scandals (like interfering in an RCMP mass shooting investigation to score political gun control points).

So if you’re a cannabis smoking Canadian who supports Justin Trudeau for turning the cannabis industry into a business in 2018, I politely ask you to put down the bong.

Or not. Don’t have an opinion on the subject. A negative side effect of democracy is that it gives people the illusion that their voice is always informed and important, when sometimes it really isn’t.

Poilievre’s stance on gay marriage and regulations

Do you want to know what a Poilievre win means for cannabis? Look at gay marriage. He initially voted against it. But now he supports her. This is how personalities like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama dealt with the topic.

Poilievre is appealing to his base, and he has figured out how to grow that base in this political climate. Cannabis connoisseurs should not be so quick to dismiss him.

Consider Poilievre’s conservative plea for less tax and regulation. Do you know who benefits from this? Cannabis producers are choking on excessive federal bureaucracy and excise taxes.

Poilievre, if he governs the way he campaigns, probably won’t want Ottawa to be involved as much. The reduction of federal responsibilities to the provinces will likely include cannabis, since the provinces can license and regulate production and manufacturing just as well as Ottawa.

Now, is there any chance that Poilievre won’t be rampaging through the cannabis industry’s bureaucracy because he thinks drugs are bad?

Given the way he tweeted in response to BC’s decriminalization, cannabis connoisseurs have every reason not to trust him.

But if you listen to Poilievre on the subject, he doesn’t sound all that different from the Liberals, the NDP, or the various public health busybodies who talk to adult adults as they do to children.

What a Poilievre victory means for the drug war

Although Poilievre quotes good economists like Milton Friedman or Thomas Sowell, he seems to choose which lessons to draw from them.

Friedman once said, “If you look at the drug war from a purely economic perspective, the government’s role is to protect the drug cartel. That is literally true.”

Still, Poilievre tweeted in May: “Decriminalizing deadly drug use is the opposite of compassion. Those struggling with addiction need treatment and recovery. Drug dealers need strong police and tough penalties.”

Now he may be appealing to the conservative base that just made him leader of the opposition.

But it’s also possible that Poilievre really believes that.

And that wouldn’t be so far fetched. Almost everyone believes that “drug addicts” need treatment and recovery options.

Some of us call cannabis a “soft” drug exempt from this nonsense, but “hard” drug users of cocaine or heroin need our help.

But that is an arbitrary distinction.

Is alcohol a “soft” drug because it’s legal and culturally responsible for it? Or is it a “hard” drug because of the damage it can do to your brain and body?

Do people who enjoy alcohol but deprive themselves of it suffer from a disease?

Virtually no one on either side of the spectrum questions the validity of this type of thinking. No one wants to challenge the home rehab industry.

Poilievre on drugs like Trudeau on guns

Poilievre is right when he attacks Trudeau’s gun control. Liberals are disarming law-abiding Canadians while doing virtually nothing to curb the illegal import of guns from the United States.

Toronto police insist the city’s violent gun crimes stem from illegal guns sourced from the US.

As Poilievre and others deal with cannabis and drugs, liberals deal with guns.

like dr Carl Hart demonstrated that using heroin or cocaine does not make you a bad person or a mindless addict.

The drug war is making it harder for responsible people to get hold of substances they use themselves. Doing nothing to address the root causes of addiction, which is not a disease but an ideological perspective.

What does a Poilievre victory mean for cannabis? For the drug war? So does another Justin Trudeau win. More of the same.

But as they say, politics is downstream of culture.

Poilievre is changing the Conservative Party’s culture to sound more libertarian. Certainly it helped attract a record number of young people.

So it’s only a matter of time before the Conservative Party’s drug policies catch up.

If your only political ambitions until then were legal cannabis, congratulations. You won. Go home and be quiet.