STONE ME! IT’S HIGH TI
Daily Express Thursday October 18 2018
AT ONE minute to midnight on Wednesday in the historic city of St John’s, Newfoundland, on Canada’s Atlantic coast, a crowd of people formed an excited queue. Some had been there since late afternoon, patiently waiting in line outside a “supplements and homeopathy” shop called The Natural Vibe, and the mood was one of anticipation – and celebration.
As midnight struck a cheer went up. The Natural Vibe opened its doors and served the first legal marijuana in the country’s history… and Canada began a national experiment that will change its cultural and economic identity for ever. First in line was local resident Ian Power, who said: “It has been my dream to be the first person to buy the first legal gramme of cannabis in Canada, and here I am.”
Similar scenes played out in towns and cities across the country, as the clocks struck midnight in Canada’s six different time zones, with many drawing comparisons with the jubilant parties that greeted the end of the Prohibition era, when alcohol became legal again. But while the majority of Canada’s younger generation are embracing the chance to get high with impunity, others are a little more circumspect about the wider impact of the change in the law. Earlier this week the Canadian Medical Association issued a statement in which it described the policy as an “uncontrolled experiment in which the profits of cannabis producers and tax revenues are squarely pitched against the health of Canadians”.
The move is the culmination of a campaign pledge made in 2015 by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and is widely supported by the majority of the populace. A survey last year by researchers at Dalhousie University in Halifax found that 68 per cent of people across the country were in favour of the impending legalisation, although 58 per cent also admitted they had concerns about children having greater access to the drug.
THE medical use of cannabis has been legal in Canada since 2001 but, under the new law, anyone over the age of 18 will be allowed to possess, carry and share with other adults up to 30 grammes of dried cannabis – enough to roll about 60 joints. Homegrown marijuana plants will also be permitted, but restricted to four per household. And from next year adults will also be able to buy “edibles”, or cannabis-infused foods such as brownies, peanut butter or, somewhat oddly given the contradictory effects of cannabis and caffeine, coffee.
For those breaking the law, however, the penalties will be severe: anyone caught driving while stoned could be jailed for five years and those found selling the drug to a minor could face 14 years in jail.
So why has Canada become the first major world economy – and only the second country in the world after Uruguay – to legalise pot? The answer is not so much about Justin Trudeau’s inherent grooviness so much as simple economics.
According to official government statistics, 4.9 million Canadians used cannabis last year, about one in seven of the entire population, spending a total of £3.6billion. And all of that
POT PIONEER
CANADA is the second country in the world to legalise recreational cannabis, following the lead of Uruguay, which enforced similar legislation in July last year.
According to their model, Uruguayan citizens, though not tourists, can purchase up to 10 grammes of the drug per week at selected official pharmacies. The cannabis is not only of a far higher quality than that available on the black market but also sells at around a third of the price (less than £2 per gramme). Sales are monitored via fingerprint scanners connected to a central government computer.
There are currently just 22,000 registered Uruguayan purchasers (in a population of 3.4million) and only 12 of the country’s 1,100 pharmacies have signed up to the scheme, partly because of the slim profit margin on price-controlled legal cannabis.
However, consumers are also allowed to cultivate their own supplies at home – up to a maximum of six plants – or join privately run “cannabis clubs” with a maximum of 45 members who are allowed to withdraw up to 40g per month.
And legalisation in Uruguay hasn’t meant the end of the illegal cannabis trade either. With allowances restricted to 10g a week and non-Uruguayans barred from buying it altogether, a whole new black market has even sprung up involving those selling on their unused allocation at a profit. money went into the black market, where it was almost certainly then used for criminal purposes. The government is hoping that by legalising the drug it will not only cut off a huge revenue stream for the criminals but make a dollar or two for itself. In a move that effectively undercuts the black market, one gramme of cannabis will cost around £3 (prior to legalisation, stoners could pay anything up to double that) creating almost overnight an industry estimated to be worth as much as £3.8billion and raising around £230million a year in tax. Naturally, the amount of money involved has attracted some big business too, sparking what has been called the “green rush” as companies compete for a slice of the lucrative new market. Ontario-based cannabis suppliers Tweed, who describe them-