Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know • Hacker News Board

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

#241

Post by poulsbohemian » Wed, Oct 17, 2018, 5:16 PM UTC

tallanvor wrote: post #110

thrower123 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

"that any interaction could go south into a deadly confrontation" Except those situations are very rare. CBP's own website lists a total of 40 deaths over the past 15 years. I looked at over half of them, and very few were actually a "deadly confronatation" Some of the deaths: * One intern died after collapsing during a 1.5 mile run that was part of his final exam. * At least two died following from heart attacks * A…

>While it's certainly more dangerous than working in IT,

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but I've come to believe tech is a very dangerous career. Years ago I recall looking out my office window and realizing that everyone I could see in front of me had a (free!) soda on their desk and most of them had diabetes. Heart disease, diabetes, back problems, carpal tunnel, eye strain, obesity - tech is a silent killer. Sitting at a desk for 8+ hours a day will do that.

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

#242

Post by pilom » Wed, Oct 17, 2018, 5:17 PM UTC

wafflesraccoon wrote: post #133

shittyadmin wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The initial tax rates for pot will be much lower, but should increase steadily year-over-year. Alcohol taxes continue to rise every year. The problem is they've got to play this game very carefully right now as the black market is still well established and providing to many people. They need to both drop prices (which should happen once more supply spins up) and start raiding illegal dispensaries and mail order sh…

Personal anecdote, I was a heavy cannabis user in Colorado when it became legal. In the beginning most people still would purchase green from their dealer to avoid the the high tax. Over time, most people simply switched to using dispensaries for the convenience and selection. I no longer live in CO but of my cannabis friends there, almost everyone I know uses a dispensary now.

Are you and your cannabis using friends white? Colorado actually tracks these numbers and has found for years since legalization that about 50% of "street" level sales are illegal and 50% go through dispensaries. Minorities are significantly more likely to purchase it illegally and whites are significantly more likely to purchase it legally.

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

#243

Post by moate » Wed, Oct 17, 2018, 5:17 PM UTC

Dowwie wrote: post #182

Big Money has been flowing into Canadian canna-startups for years, featuring absolutely massive operations. Founders are claiming that their capacity is intended to supply the "International Market". I don't see how this is possible in state-regulated marketplaces, though. Why would, for instance, Massachusetts or California regulators allow local dispensaries to sell imported product? Even intra-state trade is uncer…

It's not "why would California allow Colorado weed to get sold there" it's "will the Feds get involved because it's now an interstate commerce issue".

IDK that the individual states would care where the product is being brought in from (hey, just tax the out of state stuff when it crosses the border!) because it doesn't limit their ability to influence/control the sale and usage in their state. You can exist in a gray area of "states rights" if everything is done in house.

Eventually, the US will likely tip this way. The blue states are on board because they often see it as a criminal justice issue and taxable market. The red states will eventually want to get in on those agriculture jobs as their economies continue to slump (and as the older voters die out, since statistic show that younger generations have fewer issues with it).

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

#244

Post by softawre » Wed, Oct 17, 2018, 5:22 PM UTC

JPKab wrote: post #228

clomond wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Interestingly to me, it seems that the broader international audience on HN has absolutely no idea that individual states in the USA have fully legalized and regulated cannabis. Colorado (where I live) has done so for 4 years, and California, Nevada, to name a few, have followed suit.

We know, it's just that it is still illegal at the federal level. It's similar to the non-prosecution agreement mentioned in the Netherlands above.

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

#245

Post by noarchy » Wed, Oct 17, 2018, 5:23 PM UTC

drawkbox wrote: post #12

Canada is leading in personal freedoms and new markets with this move, ending cannabis prohibition that is long overdue and a step in ending the drug wars. The policy change regarding viewing drugs not as criminal but decriminalized and a health issue where needed, is the safer thing to do in a regulated market that will improve safety for recreational use and harm reduction. The War on Drugs started as an attack on…

>Canada is leading in personal freedoms and new markets with this move, ending cannabis prohibition that is long overdue and a step in ending the drug wars.

To an extent, yes. With regard to those new markets, though, most provinces are taking the monopoly route. So while production will be in private hands, distribution and in some cases even retail will be done by provincial government monopolies.

To illustrate how the market has been strangled in this regard, there are no physical stores open within several hours' drive of where I am, despite it being a fairly large (for Canada) metro area. My province (Quebec) has a dozen stores open today, that's it. Online sales exist, but there is a legitimate discussion over whether or not anyone would want a digital trail of their pot purchases, with the SQDC's name set to show up on your credit card statement (potentially accessible by the US border agents, for instance) when you order.

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

#246

Post by softawre » Wed, Oct 17, 2018, 5:23 PM UTC

mrguyorama wrote: post #198

todd3834 wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m surprised to hear that pilots are in short supply. I started learning to fly as a hobby and I saw many videos about how hard it is to get a job at a commercial airline. I got the impression that there is more supply than there is demand.

Pilots aren't in short supply. Pilots willing to accrue $40k in dept for the necessary education to then get paid $25k a year are very much in short supply. Many regional pilots are on food stamps. This is the reason I currently write software instead of flying commercial airplanes.

Shouldn't wages increase with demand? Why aren't they?

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

#247

Post by dragonwriter » Wed, Oct 17, 2018, 5:24 PM UTC

moate wrote: post #243

Dowwie wrote: post #182

Big Money has been flowing into Canadian canna-startups for years, featuring absolutely massive operations. Founders are claiming that their capacity is intended to supply the "International Market". I don't see how this is possible in state-regulated marketplaces, though. Why would, for instance, Massachusetts or California regulators allow local dispensaries to sell imported product? Even intra-state trade is uncer…

It's not "why would California allow Colorado weed to get sold there" it's "will the Feds get involved because it's now an interstate commerce issue". IDK that the individual states would care where the product is being brought in from (hey, just tax the out of state stuff when it crosses the border!) because it doesn't limit their ability to influence/control the sale and usage in their state. You can exist in a gra…

> It's not "why would California allow Colorado weed to get sold there" it's "will the Feds get involved because it's now an interstate commerce issue".

Wickard v. Filburn made it pretty clear that it's an interstate commerce issue way before that. The federal restraint on internal state-legalized trade is forbearance, not tied to any Constitutional principle.

> IDK that the individual states would care where the product is being brought in from (hey, just tax the out of state stuff when it crosses the border!)

Since when are state import duties not expressly prohibited by the Constitution?

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

#248

Post by rfrey » Wed, Oct 17, 2018, 5:25 PM UTC

prolikewh0a wrote: post #235

rfrey wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've met a number of people (all American, so I infer it's due to some American news sources) that believe Canadians are arrested on a regular basis for flimsy and arbitrary claims of hate speech, and those arrests are political. The same people tend to believe we wait six months and probably die before getting cancer treatment because of our socialized medical system. So chalk it up to Canada being used in the parti…

It's definitely our media not on the side of citizens. How many lies do your hear about your health care system?

I don’t know, maybe lots? What I hear from my chosen news sources matches my experience (or feeds my confirmation bias), so I don’t recognize it as lies.

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

#249

Post by vkou » Wed, Oct 17, 2018, 5:27 PM UTC

Theodores wrote: post #31

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…

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 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.

Because that's one way that police forces make it clear to you who is in charge.

Also, because you have no recourse against people wielding absolute power over you.

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

#250

Post by acct1771 » Wed, Oct 17, 2018, 5:28 PM UTC

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…

Ways it's bad:

1) Helps being okay with being bored 2) Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, and, by my estimation, varying levels thereof 3) Cancer, and lung/heart disease, if you're dumb enough to light it on fire =] 4) Adrenal fatigue

Still an incredibly useful substance.