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Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know

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41–50 of 342 posts

Re: Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know

#41
post #30

>Ontario's new PC government has been quiet on prices, but said it aims to set them at a rate that would be competitive with illicit dispensaries. Do Canadian government set prices for many goods? Would the same prices apply to giving people pot you grew at home? Several times it mentions "smoking pot", surely they should be trying to make vaping or other use normative otherwise you're inviting lots of illnesses rela…

At least until April, a government website is the only legal way to buy pot in Ontario. Since they're selling it, they set the prices. In a lot of provinces the only legal way to get pot is through a government pot store. Alcohol works the same way; Ontario recently allowed the sales of wine & beer in some grocery stores, but everything else is at the LCBO, (government liquor stores), and the Beer Store, (which I thi…

The Beer Store is an even worse story: it’s a monopoly that’s owned by the breweries!

Re: Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know

#42
post #24
post #4

Wow, some really interesting edge cases in there that require serious thought. US border guards might deny you entry if you admit to previous cannabis use - for them "A confession is as good as a conviction". So you can do something that is perfectly legal in Canada, then a month later be denied entry to the US for doing it. If you work at a 100% legal Government-run Cannabis store and want to go to the US for a holi…

> US border guards might deny you entry if you admit to previous cannabis use - for them "A confession is as good as a conviction". So you can do something that is perfectly legal in Canada, then a month later be denied entry to the US for doing it. That was already the (insane) case. Consider people who live in the Netherlands, or Czechia, or Portugal.

Hey, person living in Czechia here. Weed is illegal here. For carrying a joint or up to 10g of weed, you can get fined up to 600USD. More than that and you might have some serious problems with police. Of course you can't smoke it in public only at home.

I think it's quite a misconception about Czechia being super weed friendly. As a tourist you are most probably going to get scammed on streets of Prague. If you want to feel more free about weed consumption Netherlands is the place to go to.

Re: Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Less harmful than alcohol, without a shadow of a doubt. Zero recorded deaths, in thousands of years of medical use - can :any: other substance say the same? And yes for many, many people it absolutely improves their quality of life dramatically. So, I have no idea why you’re taking issue with this statement (unless you work for a pharma co / drug gang, in which case I totally get why you would).

I'm taking issue with that statement because I think the rhetoric around marijuana is misguided. I think it's swung too far to the "there's nothing wrong with marijuana at all" side and that's dangerous. Like alcohol it's important to recognize that it is not harmless. That doesn't mean it should be illegal, just that it should be regulated and reported on accurately.

We should definitely recognize that marijuana can be harmful along with many other unhealthy and addictive substances wrongly perceived as "harmless", such as Coca-Cola and Hostess cakes. None of those substances should be sold or given to children, for example.

Re: Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know

#44
post #4

Wow, some really interesting edge cases in there that require serious thought. US border guards might deny you entry if you admit to previous cannabis use - for them "A confession is as good as a conviction". So you can do something that is perfectly legal in Canada, then a month later be denied entry to the US for doing it. If you work at a 100% legal Government-run Cannabis store and want to go to the US for a holi…

I have been sent to the back of the queue to tick boxes on forms correctly by U.S. customs/border jobsworths and wondered why the experience has to be so patronisingly humiliating. Once on a connecting flight so I wasn't even wanting to leave the airport. At the time I was working for a highly regarded company and going on to do some work for CBC in Toronto. I had flown in on business class and my smile, polite Briti…

As a US citizen, I can honestly say that I have never experienced more unprofessional, rude, and outright hostile border control experiences than some of the ones I've experienced when reentering the US, and I doubt they treat non-citizens any better. Unfortunately in the US, the customs and border control people often seem to be the rejects who can't get a job anywhere else and relish lording their power over you.

Re: Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know

#45
post #4

Wow, some really interesting edge cases in there that require serious thought. US border guards might deny you entry if you admit to previous cannabis use - for them "A confession is as good as a conviction". So you can do something that is perfectly legal in Canada, then a month later be denied entry to the US for doing it. If you work at a 100% legal Government-run Cannabis store and want to go to the US for a holi…

I have been sent to the back of the queue to tick boxes on forms correctly by U.S. customs/border jobsworths and wondered why the experience has to be so patronisingly humiliating. Once on a connecting flight so I wasn't even wanting to leave the airport. At the time I was working for a highly regarded company and going on to do some work for CBC in Toronto. I had flown in on business class and my smile, polite Briti…

The Border Guards have absolutely no incentives to let you in and many good reasons to deny you entry on even the smallest reasons. Much like ICE and TSA, the whole organization is built entirely around gatekeeping/policing and will have people who will power trip the fuck out of their job without any kind of accountability whatsoever.

Re: Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know

#46
post #4

Wow, some really interesting edge cases in there that require serious thought. US border guards might deny you entry if you admit to previous cannabis use - for them "A confession is as good as a conviction". So you can do something that is perfectly legal in Canada, then a month later be denied entry to the US for doing it. If you work at a 100% legal Government-run Cannabis store and want to go to the US for a holi…

I have been sent to the back of the queue to tick boxes on forms correctly by U.S. customs/border jobsworths and wondered why the experience has to be so patronisingly humiliating. Once on a connecting flight so I wasn't even wanting to leave the airport. At the time I was working for a highly regarded company and going on to do some work for CBC in Toronto. I had flown in on business class and my smile, polite Briti…

> why the experience has to be so patronisingly humiliating.

It's intended to be stressful because that gets people to crack. My advice is to not take it personally unless they really push the line. The stress is part of their procedure to make sure you are not lying.

Re: Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know

#47
How Canada interfaces with the rest of the world promises to be a bit screwy.

For just one example, consider airline staff. Some Canadian airlines have already banned employees from using pot. Obviously, the general public doesn't want to fly with pilots that are high in more than one way. These airlines also have to operate in countries, like the U.S., where their employees could be detained or expelled for even admitting to have used pot in the past. Being able to look foreign gatekeepers in the face and deny having ever used a product that's legal in your native country is now a necessary job requirement for some.

On the bright side, we could finally get some quality data on the health impacts of pot, now that trials and surveys can be done without potentially incriminating anyone. Like practically every other fun thing in existence it's probably very bad for you. We just don't know how... yet.

Canada taxes alcohol at a rate of over 50% in most provinces. The initial tax rates for pot will be much lower, but should increase steadily year-over-year. Alcohol taxes continue to rise every year. This is going to be a huge cash cow for the Canadian government, and I can't imagine other countries not wanting to get in on the action once they see how much Canada will be raking in.

Re: Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know

#49
post #4

Wow, some really interesting edge cases in there that require serious thought. US border guards might deny you entry if you admit to previous cannabis use - for them "A confession is as good as a conviction". So you can do something that is perfectly legal in Canada, then a month later be denied entry to the US for doing it. If you work at a 100% legal Government-run Cannabis store and want to go to the US for a holi…

I have been sent to the back of the queue to tick boxes on forms correctly by U.S. customs/border jobsworths and wondered why the experience has to be so patronisingly humiliating. Once on a connecting flight so I wasn't even wanting to leave the airport. At the time I was working for a highly regarded company and going on to do some work for CBC in Toronto. I had flown in on business class and my smile, polite Briti…

The biggest problem with US border patrol is that they rotate the agents around. I grew up going into Quebec 4 or 5 times a year, and when you were coming back home, you always knew when you got an agent that had been stationed on the Mexican border. They'd have their hand on their pistol the whole time, and badger and hassle you. This is at a small crossing where 99% of traffic is log trucks, locals visiting family, and Canadians crossing over to buy cheap gas at the US side general store. It's not a high threat area, but those agents that had been on the other border were habituated to the possibility of drugs and human trafficking, and that any interaction could go south into a deadly confrontation.

Re: Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know

#50
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> US border guards might deny you entry if you admit to previous cannabis use What? How? Why? That makes no sense.

They can deny entry for pretty much any reason. You are correct that the US border policy with Canada doesn't make any sense.

Canada will deny a US citizen entry if they’ve ever had a DUI in their life, even if it was 30 years ago. Many people find this out the hard way.
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