Recently, the federal government announced their plan for legalizing the recreational use of cannabis by mid 2018. Canadians received the news with some excitement, but I am not excited. Instead, I have an overwhelming sense of dread.
The Hon. Jane Philpott, Minister of Health, stated that the Liberal government will do things right to keep Canadian youth safe. Surely she is joking. Today’s youth are using marijuana in such quantities that a 2013 United Nations study ranked Canada as having the highest marijuana consumption among youth in the whole world. If young people today are able to obtain marijuana in vast quantities when it is illegal, how does the Honorable Minister propose to keep it out of their hands once it is legalized. That would indeed be something to get excited about if it were even remotely possible.
Prime Minister Trudeau visited East Vancouver several weeks ago to observe, firsthand, the opioid crisis and confirmed there is a Fentanyl epidemic in Canada. Am I the only one who sees the hypocrisy in all this? Our P.M. declares a drug crisis and then announces proposed legalization of cannabis several weeks later. Yes, I have heard the debate that marijuana is harmless and is not a “gateway drug” to future abuses. Despite those arguments, Canada has a culture of drug abuse. Youth think it is “cool”; adults think it is stylish. The mentality in this country is entirely misguided. Instead of educating our youth on the dangers of drug abuse, we accept it as being a phase that will eventually be outgrown. True in most cases but sadly ending in tragedy in many others.
If we were serious about battling drug abuse, we would not be legalizing drugs in any form. As I’ve said, I have this sense of impending dread.
Fred Engels