Well, Canada’s recently elected Liberal national government just announced that it plans to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in 2017. Canada already allows for the growing, distribution and use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Now, our governing members of Parliament will be able smoke their pot on the steps of our hallowed institution. Indeed, last week an estimated 5,000 people toked up on Parliament Hill as an annual part of 4/20 across the country.
More and more jurisdictions are allowing their citizens to toke up across the Americas. Today, people are free to smoke marijuana in four U.S. states and the District of Columbia, and medical marijuana is allowed in almost half the U.S. Uruguay has fully legalized weed for sale. A large chunk of South and Central America, including Brazil, Peru, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica, have made marijuana more available in varying ways, whether it is for medicinal or recreational use. Even Mexico has recently gotten into the act by loosening its laws on the possession of marijuana for personal use.
The real question in Canada is why it’s going to take a whole year to legalize the recreational use of pot. There are plenty of distribution systems in place already to replicate. The provinces would only be too happy to reap in extra revenues from the sale of pot. Smoke it, toke it, vape it, eat it — marijuana is going mainstream. In past surveys, the vast majority of Canadians supported either complete legalization or decriminalization for possession of small amounts. Hell, pot was around and readily available when I was in college in the early seventies. Like a lot of our more celebrated citizens, a good number of us experimented with pot in our youth. Most of us boomers really don’t see what the fuss is all about.
With all the other more important issues — climate change, recessions, terrorism, gun violence — you’d think that we’d have more pressing concerns to worry about. Indeed, maybe toking up might help some of us to cope with many of these serious societal concerns. Like alcohol and tobacco, societies have established reasonable means to controlling their access and use, particularly by our youth. The debate about the merits of legalizing marijuana use is finished. Governments now need to get on with implementing timely measures necessary to control its use just like it does for other legal substances.
FROLITICKS 
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