Posted on 06/19/2018 7:16:54 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Canada is one step closer to full marijuana legalization.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last month, “We are very much focused on the control and legalization of marijuana, because the current system is not working.”
This past Thursday marked a day in Canadian history...
The Canadian Senate passed legislation that would legalize recreational use of marijuana. The Senate approved the legislation 56 to 30 in a late-night vote.
This vote has cleared one of the biggest obstacles for full legalization. Now the country is on the path to permitting national use of marijuana.
It’s still unclear when recreational weed will be on sale. There’s still a lot of uncertainty in the process of full legalization.
Canadians have been hearing that it could be as soon as July 1st, Canada Day, but officials are saying there will most likely be delays and a July 1st date might be a little optimistic.
The next step in the process is for it to go back to the House of Commons with dozens of amendments. Then the House of Commons will vote to accept or reject the amendments before it sends it back to the Senate.
Senator Tony Dean, an Independent from Ontario, had this to say about full legalization:
We have a government that had the will to try to bring a sophisticated, complex approach to a complex policy challenge. The government is being clear that this has investments in public health, community health, and harm reduction.
If all goes well, Canada will be the second country to fully legalize marijuana. Uruguay was the first to welcome full marijuana legalization.
Right now, medical marijuana is legal in Canada. Not only that, but the drug is one of the country’s top exports.
According to the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Canada could see $6.5 billion in legal retail sales by 2020 if the legislation becomes law.
That kind of economic growth would be a healthy step in the right direction for any country.
Can the U.S. Learn from Canada?
Canada has been taking advantage of its current position in the marijuana industry. It has been supplying cannabis worldwide.
Jay Czarkowski, founding partner of Canna Advisors, a Colorado-based consulting group, said, “Canada is exporting all over the world right now. That should be us [the United States].”
It’s true. The opportunity to be a key player in a prosperous market is rapidly approaching. Heck, it's already here.
The U.S. has one foot in the water and has already begun to see the benefits. Retail medical and recreational marijuana sales in the U.S. will reach between $8 and $10 billion in 2018. That's a 50% increase from the previous year!
This industry has taken us all by storm. It’s not every day that we get to experience a market flourishing before our eyes... and so quickly.
It’s expected that all U.S. marijuana sales will increase to $22 billion in 2022. But it doesn’t stop there...
Not only will the industry build up the economy by adding money to it, but it’s also going to create a lot of jobs that will help fuel the economy as well. The marijuana industry is projected to add at least 340,000 full-time jobs within five years.
Trump Says He’ll “Probably” Back Marijuana
On Friday, President Donald Trump expressed support for legislation that’s designed to protect legal marijuana activities in states that have approved the drug.
Trump said he’s willing to support the bill that’s sponsored by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.). This kind of support from the president could have a significant effect on the bill. It could be enough to convince House and Senate leaders to allow a vote on the bill.
Michael Liszewski, a policy expert for the Drug Policy Alliance, said:
To have a bill introduced by two prominent members of both political parties that would allow states to set their own marijuana laws and less than 24 hours later have the president say he’s more than open to the proposal means that we are closer than ever to passing meaningful marijuana reform at the federal level.
Forty-six states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have decriminalized or legalized marijuana. California and Colorado are the only two states right now that allow recreational sales of the drug to anyone 21 and older. However, more states could be joining them if this legislation gets approved.
There’s no point trying to fight against the legalization of marijuana. Both political parties are advocates for legalization. And now with support from the president, we can expect the gap to be bridged.
The legislation is going to give the nation the opportunity to significantly reshape the country’s legal perspective for pot users and businesses. It’s going to make sure all states have the right to decide how they’ll approach marijuana use within their borders.
Right now, the federal ban has marijuana on the same level as LSD and heroin. This has seriously complicated things for the states that have legalized weed, whether for medical use, recreational use, or both.
One of the biggest examples of this complication can be seen with any major bank. They are reluctant to work with marijuana companies because of the federal ban. Banks fear that if they do any kind of business with any of these companies, it could lead to prosecution.
President Trump’s comments on Friday come as a surprise considering U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is extremely anti-cannabis. But that's okay. In my opinion, it's a welcome surprise. Embracing full legalization of marijuana could lay the groundwork for a prosperous future for the U.S.
Until next time,
The Chinese, operating the largest ‘medical marijuana’ grows in Canada, are making billions off Canada by being permitted to export the drugs (and keeping the payments offshore.)
With full legalization, the Chinese stand to make tens of billions more getting Canadian’s high. Their factory grows stand ready to quintuple production.
Their grows in the United States are mostly illegal, but also bringing billions home to China. In my county alone, seven large Chinese grows have been raided and the property (after being cleared of illegal plants) auctioned off, with a large number of illegal Chinese nationals jailed.
Next on the list is heroin.
Given the tax rates there on booze and tabacco, I see pot prices going way up, and an incentive for smuggling and illegal grow sites.
...This industry has taken us all by storm. It’s not every day that we get to experience a market flourishing before our eyes... and so quickly.
Heroin comes from Afaganastan, better to have homegrown opoids ...
How common are illegal tobacco growing operations or bootlegging operations? Even in the localities with the highest tax rates?
If God made it, it should not be banned in its natural form.
“Heroin comes from Afaganastan, better to have homegrown opoids ...”
We do, they’re called Vicodin, Oxycontin, Percocet, Darvan, etc...
The criminal distribution networks will not respond to the loss of marijuana business by ceasing operations. They will find replacement products to peddle (opiates, meth, etc).
“Given the tax rates there on booze and tabacco, I see pot prices going way up, and an incentive for smuggling and illegal grow sites.”
Yeah. Because bootlegging and illegal tobacco growing are HUGH.
Trudeau is doing it for himself , the pothead ,LOL
Actually, there is fairly strong tabacco smuggling industry,in the Northeast, particularly between Indian tribes on both sides of the border, and there is liquor bootlegging, especially along the sea coasts, all incentivized by the high Canadian taxes on booze and liquor.
I don’t see any reason why pot would be any different.
Criminal distribution networks can't create demand by force of will; the loss of marijuana business will assuredly reduce their total income.
Payback for all the years England kept China spaced out on Heroin.
It's all too beautiful.
“there is fairly strong tabacco smuggling industry”
Smuggling legally produced tobacco from one state or county to another isn’t really the same as illegally growing it.
“there is liquor bootlegging”
Besides the odd guy in Appalachia with a still, I find it hard to believe that people are really bootlegging liquor. Bootlegging meaning making their own illegal liquor, not just smuggling already legally produced liquor around to avoid taxes.
“Bootlegging meaning making their own illegal liquor, not just smuggling already legally produced liquor around to avoid taxes.”
Tell that to JFK’s dad, Joe. There’s tremendous bootlegging of cigarettes from southern states to New York and Massachusetts. Bootlegging is to
“make, distribute, or sell (illicit goods, especially liquor, computer software, or recordings) illegally.”
According to Britannica: “The word apparently came into general use in the Midwest in the 1880s to denote the practice of concealing flasks of illicit liquor in boot tops when going to trade with Indians.”
I respectfully beg to differ. The current system works like a charm, just not for the government.
My wrestling heart-throb from the 70’s hooked up with the Canadian mafia & started smuggling cigarettes & then cocaine.
In 1993, Dino Bravo was at home watching a hockey game when he was shot 17 times. 10 in the head, 7 in the torso. Murder still unsolved.
“If God made it, it should not be banned in its natural form.”
And no employer should be banned from banning potheads. Nor should insurers be banned from raising rates or denying coverage. And on and on...
Good for Canada in this instance.
Hopefully, America’s stupid prohibition on cannabis will some end as well.
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