Cannabis is Finally Legal

  Now that cannabis is finally legal in Canada can we move on to another topic please? It's been months and months of talk about production, will there be enough, where can you do it blah blah blah. Yes I do get this is a big deal but surely we have beaten this topic to death ten times over. Let's find something else to obsess about.

  Over the course of my lifetime, I've lost many friends to drugs. Some have died and some have lost everything that mattered to them. What they all have in common is marijuana was their introduction to illegal drugs. And I know some of you don't agree with me but I see it as a gateway drug that can easily start people down a road to something much worse. Please don't explain to me why you disagree this is what I have seen.

  Study after study shows that cannabis use in teenagers does permanent damage to their brains up till the age of twenty-five. But what is the legal age to buy/use/grow? Eighteen or nineteen, it varies by province. So there is at least five years of government-sanctioned brain damage that can happen. And again don't tell me how friends or family have always used it and they are really smart. I don't want to hear it. With two kids I'm not willing to take the chance they will be like your Uncle Bob or cousin Mary instead of Cheech and Chong. Besides, how do we know this is as smart as they could have been? Maybe they were supposed to be the folks who cured cancer. Ever think about that?

  I have no quarrel with adults, who are not working or driving, from partaking in this particular hobby. I couldn't care less. But when you throw kids into the equation we need to be more cautious. And I'm not so sure we have. The police have said legalization came too fast. Shouldn't we listen to them since they are the ones who have to uphold the law? 

  Those of you who are celebrating today please do so responsibly. Do not drive while under the influence. Do not work under it either. Be respectful to those who choose not to. And do not expect that everyone is going to be happy about this change. 

  Ang