Wednesday, November 05, 2014

Will British Columbia be the Last Pacific Jurisdiction to Legalize Pot?


Washington took recreational marijuana off the state criminal books two years ago.  Last night voters in Alaska and Oregon followed suit.  California is expected to do the same in 2016.

Imagine.  British Columbia, the province once known for "B.C. Bud", could be the last jurisdiction on the Pacific Coast to have a criminal prohibition against marijuana growing, possession and/or sale.  And that, like so many other things that grate on British Columbians, is because the power to change is held by Ottawa - and held over our heads, as usual.

Ottawa has final say, sort of.  Law enforcement agencies in British Columbia normally can't be bothered to arrest individuals for simple possession.  Even growers rarely do prison time.

The greatest hit British Columbia's marijuana industry has suffered has not come from the feds or from law enforcement.  It's come from the loss of markets due to the legalization spreading through the US.

It could just be me but I've noticed a real increase in the Harper government's anti-pot TV ads lately.  I sense they're targeted at Harper's base - angry, fearful old white people.

3 comments:

Lorne said...

I read that pot can relieve stress, but aren't you people in B.C. mellow enough thanks to a (usually) benign climate, Mound?

The Mound of Sound said...

Oh, Lorne. On the eve of the Battle of the Pipelines I think there's a lot of folks out here who are anything but mellow.

Al Hunter said...

I find it amusing that the government anti-pot commercials show the brain as a maze of tubes or pipelines.