The Pot Plot Thickens

The Globe and Mail reported CIBC analyst John Zamparo as saying Canada is looking at “a legitimate industry ripe for the taking.”

“We believe that, by 2020, the legal market for adult-use cannabis will approach $6.5-billion in retail sales,” he said. “For context, this is greater than the amount of spirits sold in this country, and approaches wine in scale,” he added.

He’s talking about the marijuana market of course, and there is a lot of passionate conversation from both sides of the argument Indeed, when I posted this on  my Facebook feed,  two people, one an ardent supporter of legalizing pot and another who is dead set against it, started a (mostly) friendly battle that has been raging in this country since 1997 when public opinion polls started to see an increasing number of Canadians agree with the statement, “Smoking marijuana should not be a criminal offence”. Recently, Nano Research ran a national poll which revealed 7 in 10 Canadians now favour legalization.

And now it appears it will happen this summer.

Will our country spiral out of control as our young children are sucked into drug addiction with what has been called the “gateway drug” feared by many parents, or is it simply a substance that needs to be treated with respect and used in moderation?

My own journey of discovery began when my Aunt G. came down with a serious case of fibromyalgia. She experienced bouts of excruciating pain and she had tried many kinds of relief before she turned to medical marijuana. The day my God-fearing aunt arrived on my doorstep declaring the benefits of weed, even though one of her own children had struggled with drug addition, blew up my own unexamined biases. There was no doubt at all that medical marijuana was a salvation for her.

Shortly after that, I had the privilege of introducing Andrew Gills  at an Elder Friendly Community Network meeting. He is a cannabis consultant and a medical cannabis user, and he made me realize just how much cannabis helps people who are in pain when it is properly and expertly dispensed. Since I’ve always held the belief that one of the most noble of causes is to solve people’s problems and alleviate pain, my remaining skepticism went up in smoke.

I’m not about to start using pot. It’s still illegal, after all. Nor will I allow my children the right to use pot or alcohol before they are of legal age, and never in my house. But it sure it nice to know they won’t risk going to jail should they decide to light up a joint one day.