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Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know

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

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

A border guard banging on for 5 minutes about "anchor babies" is part of the procedure?

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

#52

Anti weed people made a lot of noise when CO and WA legalized retail sales 4 years ago, as if it would cause mass chaos, but really nothing much has changed in those states. Law enforcement have much bigger problems to deal with like a fentanyl epidemic, and Seattle's rapidly growing homeless population and property crime problem.

I wouldn't say that nothing has changed but nothing has occurred like what anti-cannabis activists claimed would happen. One outcome that gets mentioned is that vehicular accidents increased in Colorado following legalization but the population growth outpaced the relative growth in accidents, meaning per-capita vehicular accidents actually fell. Some data on cannabis and accident rates: https://reason.org/wp-content…

On a state (or country) level the increase in car crashes (only a small fraction of which will cause harm to people) is nothing compared to the negative side effects of criminalizing possession of weed. Decriminalizing drugs is a massive net win from a societal point of view even though there are negative side effects.

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

#53
post #41
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

Very similar to how pot will be sold in any province that doesn't have the government selling the pot. Local jurisdictions have, or will have, so many restrictions on when, where and how pot can be sold that competition will be extremely limited.

Saskatchewan was especially egregious. They had a lottery system to determine who would get a license to sell pot.

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

#54

>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…

In Alberta we have private businesses for selling pot. I know of two that cropped up in the same area.

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

#55
The really interesting studies will be longitudinal IMO. It's almost certainly not going to be another tobacco, but it strikes me as impossible that smoking marijuana is harmless. Should also be interesting to see what marijuana culture develops when the entire country is allowed to consume it legally.

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

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I don't see a single reason why you can be forced to incriminate yourself. If confession equals conviction, laws about right to remain silent should also apply. I would happily say "no" and smile if I was you when asked about what you did in a different country that they have no business knowing.

You have no rights at the border.

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

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see a single reason why you can be forced to incriminate yourself. If confession equals conviction, laws about right to remain silent should also apply. I would happily say "no" and smile if I was you when asked about what you did in a different country that they have no business knowing.

That's sort of orthogonal to the consequence of honestly answering the question. And of course the policy also says that if they think you lied, they might use that as a reason to deny entry in the future.

Yes, but did not they teach you to think before talking?

They are free to not let you in, but you are free to ignore any irrelevant or intimate questions.

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

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see a single reason why you can be forced to incriminate yourself. If confession equals conviction, laws about right to remain silent should also apply. I would happily say "no" and smile if I was you when asked about what you did in a different country that they have no business knowing.

You have no rights at the border.

Say who? Did you notify the UN about these findings?

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

#59

Slight digression, yesterday someone told me the existence of the Kratom plant. Which seems another potent and not harmful leaf that can improve your quality of life. (the few research on it is muddy so grain of salt required, but the amount of people shouting publicly for it in the US gets one thinking).

Are you implying that marijuana is "not harmful" and "can improve your quality of life"?

I like this point. Marijuana triggered my first series of psychoses, before which point I enjoyed it while listening to music and hanging out with friends like almost everyone else. Unfortunately, there are too many cases like this to classify weed as "not harmful". I also know of at least two people who almost smoked their life away. They'd be smoking ounces a week, or more, just listening to music, eating and sleeping, with no motivation to do anything else. I believe the one guy is still without a job.

Of course these are anecdotes, but the fact that they are true for myself and people in my life leads me to believe it's probably true for some others, which obviously leads me to the conclusion that it isn't some magical cure-all safety good-time fun drug you can use without consequences. Most people who have a good time with it and are smart about how they use it will praise its benefits to the moon, but I don't know if those kind of people are the majority, they are just very vocal.

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

#60
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…

I’m with you. I’m a Canadian and I try to avoid crossing US border at all costs, even flying transit. I’ll pay more for a ticket to avoid layover in US. The experience is just so bad.
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