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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

#111

Post by Sharlin »

tokyodude wrote: post #98
beloch wrote: post #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 adm…

> On the bright side, we could finally get some quality data on the health impacts of pot Doesn't this already exist from other countries where it's been legal for decades?

I don't think there are any. Not in the West, anyway. Even in the Netherlands it's only "tolerated", not legalized or even decriminalized.

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

#112

Post by saiya-jin »

706f6f70 wrote: post #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.

It certainly isn't completely harmless, very few things are.

Subjective perspective - smoking is really bad, can be dramatically improved with good vaping but its still harmful. One of the great side effects of legalization - health-conscious people have less damaging options for consumption. Eliminated by eating the material, but then effects are a bit different. There have been some rumors on lower sperm count/lowered movement, not sure if related more to smoking any material or something in cannabis causing it. For short term buzz maybe some nasal spray would be great (again, legalization can help this get done properly).

Then there are mental effects - people are mentally incapacitated, usually even day after is felt, short term memory negatively impaired. Long term frequent usage leads to mild dependence, which can be given up much easier compared to ie cigarettes. Can trigger dormant mental illnesses, and amplify them with long term usage (I guess paranoia is the most common one, schizophrenics would be also bad - same can be achieved with any other drug including alcohol, or big shock like car crash).

Side effects of behavior can be quite destructive too - 'munchies' cravings for unhealthy food (sweet, fried etc) - long term disastrous for health just like any other overeating.

I can't think of anything else right now, but for sure there is something else. Overall relatively low harm, especially when things like alcohol and tobacco roam civilization almost freely

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

#113

Post by grawprog »

jgrahamc wrote: post #65
the-dude wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if you are taking issue, what harm are you taking issue with?

My personal experience is that there are people who'll smoke marijuana to the point of not functioning properly in everyday life. It does appear that it is less addictive than alcohol but it's important that people realize that marijuana is not problem free and not a cure all. Which is sometimes the rhetoric from people who pushed for legalization.

The thing i've noticed with people like that though, is of they weren't smoking weed to ruin their life, they'd be addicted to video games, or alcoholicss or they get tummy aches, or have so much anxiety they can't go outside or interact with people, or just have some other debilitating addiction or excuse that stops them from getting on with life.

Some people just don't function in life...weed or not.

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

#114

Post by bregma »

jbeales wrote: post #30
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #17

>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 owned by two foreign-owned multinationals (the Belgian AB InBev and the American MolsonCoors). Not government run, but like many Ontario monopolies is has government in its pocket.

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

#115

Post by maxerickson »

doombolt wrote: post #57
maxerickson wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I don't understand your "teach you to think before talking" remark. I said your comment was orthogonal because it didn't address anything I had said in my other comment. Of course someone wanting to the enter the country will weigh their options, I'm just laying out the potential consequences, for someone that apparently had not heard of them (the other commenter, not you).

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

#116

Post by clomond »

verelo wrote: post #88
beloch wrote: post #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 adm…

How is the US travel situation with Canada any different to someone coming from say the Netherlands? Regarding pilots, Transport Canada, the governing body over federal aviation regulations has explicitly come out and said use of Canabis is valid grounds for a revoked medical certificate, which is required for any pilot to fly. While the airline rules are one thing, this is a very serious implication for pilots.

One major thing that comes to mind is that cannabis is still technically illegal in the Netherlands. Instead there is a distinction of "soft drugs" and "hard drugs" and authorities follow a policy of non-enforcement in many (but not all) cases. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_policy_of_the_Netherlands...

In Canada cannabis has become legal in a manner similar to alcohol, making the difference.

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

#117

Post by dagw »

q3k wrote: post #24
grecy wrote: 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.

Consider people who live in the Netherlands, or Czechia, or Portugal.

It's not technically legal in any of those countries.

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

#118

Post by Broken_Hippo »

jgrahamc wrote: post #65
the-dude wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if you are taking issue, what harm are you taking issue with?

My personal experience is that there are people who'll smoke marijuana to the point of not functioning properly in everyday life. It does appear that it is less addictive than alcohol but it's important that people realize that marijuana is not problem free and not a cure all. Which is sometimes the rhetoric from people who pushed for legalization.

A few will, however: For most folks, it is like being drunk. Sure, you'll drink to the point of not functioning, but that's occasional, on weekends, after work, and so on. It is more likely that you run into people all the freaking time that are doing their jobs while being stoned. They do this pretty happily, and so long as folks are able to do their jobs safely, I don't see an issue. A cashier has no real reason not to be a little stoned at work, for example. This is because of the way tolerance builds with it, and the fact most folks aren't that stoned when they go to work.

I'll add that the only people I've known that had actual trouble quitting pot had other mental issues as well. The other cases are more rare. (Folks often must test this to take work-related drug tests). If someone is going to have an addiction, this is one of the better ones to have (outside of caffeine, perhaps). And we can better research actual methods of helping folks.

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

#119

Post by jaclaz »

q3k wrote: post #24
grecy wrote: 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.

Also in the Netherlands is "tolerated" not "legal", they have directives gedoogbeleid that make some cases of selling and possessing, besides self-growing, of limited amounts of cannabis not prosecuted:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_policy_of_the_Netherlands

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