Apparently, Ottawa has entrepreneurs who would like to start selling Cannabis products about 6 months ahead of full recreational legalization in Canada. Since this has been happening in Vancouver forever, it is not something that should surprise anyone. And since it has been legal for people for whom Cannabis products are proscribe for pain, anxiety and several other ailments, it is a welcome relief from the “drug deal on a corner” problem that these people have.
Yet we have the usual bandwagon of politicians and residents who are coming out against the proliferation of such dispensaries, using logic worthy of a young child. For example, a city councilor (presumably a fully-grown person) says that he is not happy with this “cowboy-pirate-bandit approach that these people are taking”.
Here is the article on cbc.ca, and do note the misspelling of councilor … sigh. Click the picture to read the full article.
My thoughts:
Several people are up on their high horse, trying to mobilize the forces of "truth and light" (a.k.a. "luddites from the 50s") to fight a local dispensary. They cite "lollipops" and "cookies" and names like "Midnight Kush" and then close with this iron-clad, piercing analysis:
To us, it seems like it's marketed directly to youth and it's an effort to try to target our kids ultimately, which we're very concerned about, said Bergman.
As in "we think they are attacking our kids with their poison and we are concerned that this will touch off the infamous Reefer Madness that has destroyed so many otherwise good young kids."
I hope that the sarcasm was apparent in that last comment.
This appears to be some whiny parents and a sympathetic (pandering?) councilor who would say nothing at all about an LCBO (liquor store, for those not from Ontario) popping up in the same place. We had one for a decade that was a block from one elementary school and a couple of blocks from another (the one that my youngest went to).
These people need some perspective.
- We make young people show ID for cigarettes.
- Young people would not get 10 feet in an LCBO unless escorted by a parent.
- And young people would not be served cannabis products without proper ID *and* papers showing they were legal. Dispensary owners do not want to go to jail, and without asking for papers (I know several people who are medically licensed) they are just drug dealers.
My point being that these very concerned people should fear what is really a danger to their kids. Their own parenting, for starters.
