Free the weed, said Canada’s bold plan. Then came the fallout to harsh the mellow – We’ve spent months hearing all the reasons cannabis should be legalized in Canada: More tax revenue, better regulation, new jobs, a way to undercut the Hells Angels, etc.
But what about the stuff we may not see coming? The National Post did its homework on what happens when a government legalizes a drug, and found these not-so-expected outcomes of Canada’s bold plan to free the weed.
In many places, it’s actually going to get much harder to score weed – The legalization of pot has often been compared to the end of Prohibition. But here’s an aspect of Prohibition people often forget: Ending it actually made it much harder to find booze. Rampant bootlegging under the ban meant that alcohol was available anywhere, at anytime and to anyone. In the U.S., federal police officer Izzy Einstein famously kept a running tally of how quickly he could get a drink after arriving in a new city.
The winner was New Orleans after a cab driver offered to sell Einstein a bottle of liquor only 35 seconds after his arrival by train. In Prohibition-era Toronto, alcohol could be purchased on Sundays, holidays and without enduring an interminable LCBO lineup. Pot enthusiasts may end up pining for the pre-2018 days when weed dealers stood on every corner, unregulated dispensaries stood in every Vancouver mini-mall and 4/20 celebrations were an anarchic gathering of unlicensed hippies selling hand-rolled joints out of plastic shopping bags.
Tristin Hopper – National Post – October 16, 2018.
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