I’ve been planning an upcoming trip to the big city (Victoria) and on this visit I decided to do something new. I’m going to buy some pot. But that’s not what’s new. What’s new is that this time, for the first time, I’ll be buying it in a store.
Ho hum, yawns Colorado, Oregon, Washington, California and all those more enlightened jurisdictions. Here in Canada, we’re still waiting on the not-so-new-now Prime Minister to fulfill an election promise to legalize marijuana – now there’s an optimistic thought. Waiting on a politician’s promise may be like waiting for something to freeze over, but given our coastal winter freeze this year, well, all things may be possible.
Despite murky legality, storefront pot dispensaries have been popping up in cities across the country, many earlier ones cloaked in medical marijuana guise, many now not even pretending. Certain municipalities have come up with regulations and taxes are collected. A friend recommended a store in Victoria they thought would suit me so, curious, I went online to check it out. Before they give you a membership that enables you to buy from them (like Costco?), they require that you have a “free” consultation with a doctor. You can book an appointment online to visit their office or you can do the whole thing online with a Skype call.
Great! A pleasant surprise. Avoids a trip and timewaster in Victoria. So I booked an appointment, uploaded my ID, and had a Skype consultation with a woman who I presume is a doctor, who asked a few questions which seemed to be about identifying any medical condition why I SHOULDN’T use pot (I don’t) and 2 minutes and 48 seconds later I got my “membership”. Now I can order up my pot online (or in person at the store) and have it delivered next day to my front door. Payment is through e-transfer.
No muss, no fuss, the whole experience feels completely civilized and very convenient. There’s only one remaining problem.
The whole thing is completely illegal.
Rumours are that, this spring, the Trudeau government will be announcing…something… in the marijuana legalization spectrum, who knows exactly what. In what may have been a throwaway comment, Trudeau implied that we can expect something to happen on 420 (April 20), a nod to the community.
What I want to know is why, a month before the anticipated announcement of legalization, or whatever it’s going to be, Marc Emery, the pot activist and owner of dispensaries in certain cities across Canada was arrested, with his wife Jodie, at the Toronto airport about to board a trip to Spain. A day later they raided some of his businesses.
This is the same Marc Emery who not long ago was released from an American prison where he served 5 years for selling marijuana seeds across the border, a completely political conviction given his long history of outspoken activism on behalf of the legalization movement. (See one of my earlier rants, way back when, on this subject – Free Marc. ) He’s been arrested over 30 times.
So what gives with this government targeting him once again?
Everyone is trying to make a statement. The police are trying to remind everybody that the stuff is still illegal and the pot activists are pushing back hard – harder than ever. Marc Emery is targetted because he is high profile and is sure to get a lot of publicity, which both sides figure it’s worth it for their own reasons. Meanwhile there are hundreds of marijuana dispensaries already out there openly doing business. Close one down and two spring up the next day.
It’s worth it to these companies to jump the gun because whoever is already well established when legalisation comes will be better situated to profit. Prices are outrageous in some of these stores that are all dolled up to look like medical dispensaries, some calling their customers “patients”, reflecting the costs of the “free” medical consultations, higher risks, lawyers’ fees, higher short term lease costs and so on. This too should shake out with legalization.
Back to Marc Emery. He and Jodie were released on $30,000 bail and a court appearance has been set for, get this, April 21st, the day after the rumoured legalisation announcement. I can just imagine the judge’s thought balloons. “Get this fucking case out of my courtroom! What a waste of time. I’ll set the date for the day after an announcement is expected, so hopefully I won’t have to deal with it. Ever. Dismiss!”
Meanwhile, as the Toronto police spend their resources on this political revenge bust, elsewhere, we face a shocking situation of fentanyl overdose and death. Fentanyl, an opioid once largely used only in hospitals and in treatment of chronic pain, has in recent years, because of its high potency and low cost, been cut into street drugs such as cocaine and heroin, with devastating consequences. Last year 922 people in British Columbia alone died from street drugs deliberately laced with the drug. I find these numbers really staggering. Imagine if the equivalent of 10% of my town ended up dead, poisoned by drug dealers who don’t give a shit. The Downtown East Side in Vancouver where most (by no means all) of the deaths have occurred must be a sadder neighbourhood than ever.
The week that the Emerys were arrested coincided with the highest number of overdoses (174) yet reported for a one week period in Vancouver. Almost a year of planning and preparation by police and millions of dollars went into the Emery multi-city bust. Meanwhile there’s a huge drug problem on the streets, needing attention from both a criminal and public health point of view. But the drug that’s causing the problem is NOT marijuana.
No. one. ever. died or overdosed from marijuana sold from Marc Emery’s pot shops.
