User:Pthom025/Legalizing Marijuana in Canada

Introduction

The events of the recent 2015 Canadian federal election saw the Liberal party gain a commanding majority government, removing the current Conservative government. The Liberal’s agenda included the very controversial topic of legalizing marijuana, and gave their stance of committing to full legalization of the recreational drug. These talks in Canada have come a few years after the American states of Colorado and Washington completed their process of legalizing marijuana. The director of Colorado’s marijuana enforcement division gave this warning to Justin Trudeau of the Liberal Party on the topic of legalizing marijuana, “It’s going to be a lot harder to implement than you think. It’s going to take a lot longer to do it. And it’s going to cost more than you think.”(6(

Current system:

The current system of policing marijuana in Canada not only costs the tax payers money because of the high expense of policing it, but also the government is losing out on billions in potential tax revenue that would come with legalizing it. Steve Lafleur is a policy analyst who wrote an article in the Winnipeg Free Press saying, “The nationwide costs of marijuana prohibition are immense. Estimates claim Canadian governments lose $7.5 billion per year in tax revenue because marijuana is illegal, and spend $500 million annually on enforcement.”(5) This is a flawed system and it is in need of reform with the election of the liberal government change in inevitable.

Liberal government’s stance:

“We will remove Marijuana consumption and incidental possession from the Criminal Code, and create new, stronger laws to punish more severely those who provide it to minors, those who operate a motor vehicle while under its influence, and those who sell it outside our regulatory framework. We will create a federal/provincial/territorial task force, and with input from experts in public health, substance abuse and law enforcement, will design a sew system of strict marijuana sales and distribution, with appropriate federal and provincial excise taxes applied.”(4) This quote is taken directly from the Liberal government’s platform by which they ran on in this 2015 federal election.

Conservative government’s stance:

On October 3, 2015, Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave his stance on marijuana in an interview with CTV News. “We have spent a couple of generations trying to reduce the usage of tobacco in Canada with a lot of success. Tobacco is a product that does a lot of damage – marijuana is infinitely worse and is something we do not want to encourage.”(3) This hard stance on marijuana is consistent throughout Harpers years as the Prime Minister and is supported by the conservative party and ideology. Harper’s stance is also not believed to be scientifically right, because in recorded history there has not been one overdose or death that has been directly caused by marijuana use. Also with the expansion in the discussion of marijuana has brought with it new studies and we are gaining further knowledge that the government imposed policy against marijuana without fully understanding the effects both harmful and beneficial.

The example of Colorado:

Colorado is part of an established governmental agency called Marijuana Policy Project, which is focused on policy and reform in all areas directly related to marijuana in the whole of the United States. This organization studies the effect of legalization and has come to some surprising conclusions such as, in the first calendar year after marijuana was legalized the state received almost $70 million in tax revenue from its sale. Also there has been an increase in job creation in the sector and it is estimated that over 16,000 people in Colorado alone are working directly in the marijuana industry.(2)

Canadians Opinions:

According to a recent Ipsos poll, 65% of Canadians support the decriminalization of marijuana. “Two in three (65%) Canadians ‘support’ (29% strongly/ 36% somewhat) ‘decriminalizing the possession of marijuana in small amounts so that it no longer carries a penalty or fine’, holding steady with the 66% of Canadians who supports such a proposition in a similar 2012 poll conducted for Global. Conversely, one in three (35%) ‘opposes’ (18% strongly/ 17% somewhat) the decriminalization of marijuana in small amounts”.(1) The common thought was that since the Conservatives took a hard black and white stance against marijuana that even though the majority of the population of Canada wanted reform in this area they would have no chance until the Liberals or NDP could gain the power necessary for change.

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