Tragically the two founders of the “Church of the Universe”, have both recently passed away. I say tragically, because Rev. Tucker and Brother Michael never got to see the day they had long fought for. They were quite the colourful characters as you will read in the links above. Their church considered Pot smoking a sacrament. While Brother Michael, their High Priest of Pot, aspired to political office, he was always considered a fringe candidate, and never was elected. (By the Rev. Tucker might be the only person who has lived in the both the hometowns of Klasie Kraalogies and me!)
But there arose in the Great White North, a new fearless leader, Justin Trudeau. One who would aspire to, and attain, the office of Prime Minister, and who believed that the simple possession of a joint, should not result in one being put in the joint. So Canada crowned a new “Dope Pope”, and as of last Wednesday, Canada became only the 2nd country in the world to legalise Marijuana consumption country wide.
(Image courtesy of my favourite editorial cartoonist, Graeme MacKay)
A person recognized world wide as a saint, felt the need to comment.
Of course, in Canada, Trump got the blame.
While certain Police forces have just asked that their officers arrive fit for duty, the RCMP have in effect banned the use among all their members. Dario Castillejos believes they are evidently afraid of this:
In my Province of Ontario, the only way you will be able to legally buy it for the next six months, is online, and delivered by Canada Post. Which led my postal worker friend to update his Facebook profile picture with this:
Where will this all end? Some couldn’t help but notice that this could be a boon to tourism, as much as $2 Billion dollars worth according to Bloomberg news.
Perhaps a few subtle tweaks in the Canadian flag might help to this end.
As for me?
As usual your thoughts and comments are… far out man, far out.
The Internet Monk Archives 
My inference was that if he’s still living with his Mum and cleaning windows for a living, that might have a causal relationship with smoking pot for 45 years…
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In the words of a song from the Dr Demento Show way back when:
“Mister Jimmy Carter
There’s this thing called Paraquat;
We don’t spray it on your peanuts
Please don’t spray it on our pot!
(Paraquat Paraquat
Paraquat Paraquat…)”
(Unlike “Panama Red” and “Acapulco Gold”, this song never made it to YouTube.)
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Re Global Warming:
LIES,
FAKE NEWS.
THE CLINTONS! THE CLINTONS! THE CLINTONS!
TRUMP IS LOOOOORD!
And the End Time Prophecy fanboys DO believe in it.
Just like Global Thermonuclear War in its day, IT’S PROPHESIED! IT’S PROPHESIED!
Keep your nose squeeky-clean, clutch your Rapture Boarding Pass, and wait to be Beamed Up and watch the world burn from your catered Superbowl suite in Heaven. (Any minute now… Any minute now…)
“And I will be laughing as the world burns.”
— commenter who got deleted from this blog back in 2005
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And then there was the Girl Scout who set up her cookie stand at the exit of a pot dispensary.
Caused quite an uproar, but she sold out her inventory in record time.
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But it should put a dent in it.
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Robert,
Similar effect on me except I did get the munchies.. and it was the reason I stopped using by the end of 11th grade, having substituted it for alcohol (then fresh air for alcohol a bit later)…
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Likely, the increase in global warming will lengthen the ‘growing time’ of grass in the northern latitudes of our beautiful neighboring country.
We have some strange stuff already on the loose in our country with some of that warped dope that drives people crazy, so an addition of pot legalism in Canada doesn’t seem that big of a deal by comparison . . . . . this ‘meth’ thing is horrific, and half the Ozarks is ‘cooking’ stuff and our beautiful young mothers with babies and toddlers are getting hooked on opioids and it is KILLING them . . .
so we have our own troubles . . . . if the grass is greener up north lately, well, that is their business. I LIKE my Canadian relatives a lot. They are strong, cool people with good sense and a great work ethic. I trust them to be responsible. OTOH, human nature being what it is, troubles will come from weed abuse, sure. But please don’t tell me it’s worse that what our own country is having to deal with . . . . there is some NEW drug out there that makes people jerk around and move funny and not be in control of their motions . . . . you can bet that there will be lasting effects of that poison in their poor psyches and brains . . . God have mercy. . . .
my own addiction? caffeine in coffee, tea, good chocolate . . . I brew the stuff myself, it’s cheaper at home . . . can’t get enough of really good coffee these days and a pot of strong tea on a cold afternoon works for this addict too
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I’ve heard that Canada is now adopting a motto like one we have in the U.S. — E cannabis unum.
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You forgot the caps.
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Like you, Dana, my wife has never smoked pot…..or ingested it in any other way.
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When I was smoking, pot exacerbated my natural insecurity, and made me feel very self-conscious and a little paranoid, so you might say it increased my anxiety.
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I smoked occasionally for about a decade, roughly coextensive with the time I was in my twenties. I never enjoyed it. Pot exacerbated my natural insecurity, which made me a little paranoid, but my friends lit up pretty frequently, and I ignored my dislike because I didn’t want to be a party pooper. It never gave me the munchies, just made me sit in the corner feeling lonely and distant from everyone and everything.
Booze was much more fun, except for the hangover, of course.
I’m glad all of that is finished now, and has been for decades. It depresses me thinking about it.
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I’m not sure legalization will do away with the currently existing black market completely.
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Without such a definition and test, law enforcement would be greatly hampered in their ability to police pot-influenced drivers.
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–> “…has anyone been able to come up with a similarly-rigorous test…for cannabis?”
How about: “Spell your name.”
If the reply is, “Why would I want to do that?” – Under the influence!!!
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No difference, but see my response to your reply above.
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It doesn’t. I’m just responding to the idea that no harm is done by habitual use of weed. That’s just nonsense. I don’t oppose legalization, but I don’t buy the idea that pot is a harmless substance and its habitual use a harmless pastime. I think the policy of the War on Drugs is a failed one, and puts way too many people (many of them people of color) in prison for long term sentences for non-violent offenses. But I have little doubt that one of the results of legalization, absent a strong anti-smoking public health (not criminalization) campaign like the one that has reduced cigarette smoking in recent decades, will be an uptick of the number of people using marijuana, simply because the illegal status of a an activity prevents a certain percentage of people from engaging in it who otherwise might. It is likely that the uptick will be more than balanced on the other side by a reduction in the costs of social pathology of having so many people locked up for nonviolent drug crimes, but since we don’t know the long term effects of habitual smoking, including negative health effects, we can’t be certain. By the time data starts coming in, it will be a moot point, since too much business will be involved in the sale of pot.
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DUI is DUI, whatever the substance — alcohol, pot, or smartphone screen.
That said, while we have distinct definitions of DUI limits when it comes to alcohol (as well as reliable tests to determine that level), has anyone been able to come up with a similarly-rigorous test and DUI definition for cannabis? If not, that would be a major flaw.
Compounded by the fact that alcohol is water-soluble and THC is fat-soluble. This means that alcohol is metabolized and shed by your body relatively quickly, while THC builds up in fatty tissues and leaches out much more slowly. And the brain is fatty tissue, so as it builds up you keep a low-grade buzz for a LONG time.
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Again, how does that differ from a closet drinker?
Would it make a whole lot of difference if it were a bottle instead of a joint?
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I think that’s a factor. I know of one artist I had contact with decades ago who’s said to have started it as self-medication for bipolar disorder (he couldn’t afford real meds at the time) and ended up the cannabis version of a serious alcoholic. (Later I had contact with another who did the same with the old standby, alcohol.)
Radio talk-show host Dennis Prager once likened pot to alcohol when it comes to addiction and effect. How harder drugs “put your life and development on Pause” until you get off them and discover you’re still emotionally the age when you started, i.e. you never grew up, and Peter Pan is the Fantasy. He said about pot that like alcohol, some can handle it casually, some can handle it socially, and some get addicted to the point it puts their life on Pause just like the harder stuff.
One thing I have heard about cannabis: I’ve never heard of a “mean drunk” from it. Instead, it produces a “lazy drunk” or “silly drunk”, and continued heavy use locks in the “lazy drunk”.
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Dunno, man, but here in Trump’s America the Feds and the Christians don’t believe in global warming.
Just thought I’d beat HUG to that one.
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Addiction and Health Issues —
So how does that differ from Tobacco?
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A black market will spring up? What is it that we have now? I’m hoping that legalizing pot will decrease the black market. Think of the Prohibition era.
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If that means he’s smoked every day, or most days, or half of the days, or a quarter of them, over 45 years, harm certainly has been done. He’s addicted. And since nothing like adequate scientific study has been done of the negative consequences for health of long term pot smoking, in all likelihood, the guy who washes your windows is going to have some health issues as a result.
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I’m not opposed to the legalization of pot in the U.S., due to the deleterious effect the War on Drugs has had on our society. But I’m not convinced of the innocuousness of pot or pot-smoking. I know a young woman with a husband and two kids who, though she’s otherwise a sober and responsible person and parent, can’t get to sleep at night unless she smokes a joint. On occasion, when circumstances prevent her from getting a smoke out of doors before bedtime, she hides in the bathroom to toke up; on one occasion, her husband caught her and got very mad because they had agreed there would be no smoking in the house, never mind hiding behind closed doors in the middle of the night to do it. She’s addicted. If you have to smoke pot on a daily basis, aside from doing so for medical reasons, you’re addicted. And no one has done anything like adequate medical studies to determine the potential long term negative health consequences of habitual marijuana smoking. I suppose we’ll start finding that out twenty or thirty years after legalization in Canada, or here. But by then too much business will depend on legal pot smoking for a national course reversal, just like legalized gambling.
But then, as someone who never enjoyed smoking for the decade or so when I occasionally did it, I have no skin in the game. If pot didn’t exist I wouldn’t care less (aside from the whatever medical benefits it may have, which are far from certain in the absence of much hard scientific data).
But
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https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/18/health/marijuana-driving-accidents-bn/index.html
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That had not occurred to me. ?
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Yes, pot has been legal in California for a while. In my county, the permit process is really slow (and rather expensive), and the growers who want to do things legally (the minority of growers still) are upset about that. Lately, residents of some neighborhoods just outside of the towns received a survey about whether they wanted commercial grows to continue in their area; half said no, we don’t want that in our neighborhoods, mostly because the growers are sucking water out of our shared aquifer in the middle of a drought. So now growers are mad about that, too. Tourist boom? Haven’t seen it yet. Working class neighborhoods where some driveways sport Hummers and humungous trucks and a Ferrari SUV? Yeah, we know what THEY do for their living. And legalization has done absolutely nothing to stop Mexican cartel-financed mega-grows in our public forested lands, which are a disaster for the forest ecology and fisheries.
Results are very mixed here in the Emerald Triangle; from my POV, much the worse in general. I’m on the same page as Radagast, except I never partoked in the ’70s or any other time.
Dana
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For those of you more familiar with marijuana than I,
Do you think it is primarily a street drug to treat anxiety or is that just a minor part of it.
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Head less Guy. How so has Feds “clamped” down on states. John C Calhoun’s would be proud he was right about state nulification.
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But they are CERTAIN they are having a good time!
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One [serious] idea is for churches is to operate their parking lots as metered parking during the week – especially near things like this – as a much needed source of extra revenue.
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They’re nothing if not predictable that way. And I live in a very conservative pocket of California where the locals try to do the same thing but routinely get their hands slapped by the state for it. Fortunately California is big enough and rebellious enough that we can usually tell the feds to go jump in the lake and stick to sane public policy.
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Washington state legalized pot about five years ago. There’s a pot shop near us that actually needs a parking attendant to help with the flow of cars coming and going.
I keep joking with the guys at church that if we are serious about increasing attendance, we should begin a pot ministry to the community.
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But the DEA and its fanboys (including the Christians) have doubled down on the Federal level.
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Soma for those who can’t afford Social Media broadband.
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Outside of the DEA itself, the biggest fanboys of the War on Drugs are Donald Trump and The Christians.
And back in history, the outlawing of pot in the early 20th was under some questionable circumstances:
1) It was the Churches who financed Reefer Madness and similar media presence that orchestrated a Moral Panic. (Possibly a branch from the Temperance Movement and Prohibition.)
2) The pulp paper manufacturers and logging industry also “contributed” to eliminate unwanted competition of the hemp industry, much like Big Tobacco joining with Anti-Smoking Activists to shut down Vape shops.
3) And there was a Race Card in play, i.e. stoppng the threat of “Dope-crazed N*gg*ers going after Our White Women.”
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Well, it it lowers productivity… might it have the opposite effect? 😀
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“If taxed too high, which it will be , the black market will spring up quickly.’ – agreed… and potency issues too will bring the black market.
I expect the Filet O Fish consumption will go thru the roof (loved those things after smoking till stupid)…. took me years after quitting to become fully conversant in society again…in my case a very introverting habit….
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Child of the “smoke dope until you drop” late seventies era… and as one who par-toked back then I am firmly against…. great drug to de-motivate the masses and convert them to sheep, just need to wave a free hamburger and you will have them at Big Mac. Also, just think of all the fender benders when users drop their joints while driving….. couple that with what Patriciamc mentioned, stronger pot than our Columbian Gold and Panama Red …equals big mess.
And then all that interesting conversation… relevancy of a chair in the philosophy of the universe….the staring at the light on the stereo while listening to Pink Floyd and Gentle Giant on headphones…. wait… I’m having flashbacks….
One good thing… won’t have to deal with Paraquat and bleeding lungs…..
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Any thoughts as to whether or not the legalization of recreational marijuana use in Canada will lead to an increase in the rate of global warming?
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Meh. Won’t make much difference on a social level, except the decriminalization will probably save some money. I live in California where it’s been legal for a while, and I frequently visit relatives in both Colorado and Washington, where it’s also been legalized. They sky hasn’t fallen in any of those places.
It’s certainly far preferable to the insane drug wars and draconian prison terms for minor drug possession and use offenses.
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I wasn’t going to make another comment but by coincidence I happened to catch one of those old episodes of DRAGNET on the YouTube and it was the classic where the group of young high school students smoke the evil marijuana and riot in the movie theater. Sgt Friday and partner have to go over to the parent’s houses and inform them that little Johnny and little Meg are mainlining the weed and god knows where it will lead. Twenty minutes into the episode they’re already dealing heroin and “goofballs”.
Easy to laugh at this but if you’ve ever known anyone whose life was ruined because they got caught smoking marijuana it doesn’t seem nearly as funny.
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Yeah, child of the “just say no” era, and I firmly belive it. I don’t approve of maijuana except for medical use (as defined by a doctor!), and with today’s more potent marijuana, we might just regret legalizing it.
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At least Canada did not go the devious for medical reasons route that is popular in the USA. Either legalize it all or not at all. Weed for medical use just leads to people having to pay a Dr bill. for a stress, unable to sleep and all the other reasons to get the prescription though a “weed” or “pill” Doctor. Like other issues legalization is going to happen , it is a generational change and the genie will not go back into the bottle.
Not good for society but hey man, it does not hurt anyone except the 20% or so who will become reliant upon the use and it is a gateway drug , the same percent as demon rum. Unlike the hippie generation who did for the most part out grow the need for weed, legal means ok to most and future generations will make it a part of their adult and social lifestyle. Availability to minors will grow even more than the easy availability now, with no legal constraint . Beer is harder to obtain for a 15 year old now than grass.
If taxed too high, which it will be , the black market will spring up quickly. I agree with many, just get the issue over and try to deal with it. In my opinion a terrible decision but reality is reality. The majority of Romans wanted the circus and it was provided. At least we will have a good crop of menial labor people who just want to get by and burn one.
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All joking aside it’s hard to think of a more criminally stupid social policy than the “War on Drugs”. The classic example of the “cure” being worse than the disease. I congratulate the Canadians on their sanity.
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John, the RMP will enforce it the same way we enforce that police can’t or should not drink on the job even though it’s legal to drink. I live in Michigan and am looking forward to the vote.
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We are on the same page; I think the entire discussion is ridiculous. But I’ll be voting Yes in Michigan just so we can get back to talking about real/adult issues. The Weeedsters suck up a lot of civic oxygen. The passion on this issue gives the lie to so many of their claims (unaddictive, etc…) gIven all the other problems we urgently need to solve.
The only real point they have is the equity problem – enforcement is nakedly racist. So legal weed will at least take that club out of the police’s toolbox.
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I’ve said it before, and it may just be that I am a child of the “Just Say ‘No'” era (and saw a lot of potheads crash and burn in HS), but I don’t see why we need legal marijuana. We should have legal alcohol (with proper regulation) and tobacco (pipes and cigars – cigarettes are a waste of good leaf 😉 ), and I can’t see why anyone would want anything else. If you want something stronger than booze or pipeweed, you don’t need stronger drugs, you need therapy.
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Far out, man, but hey, Maine is a year ahead of you.
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“””As the guy who washes my windows says, smoked weed for 45 years , no harm and Mom is making meat loaf tonight”””
Well put! 🙂
Michigan will legalize this November; given the pervasive availability already I doubt it will have any impact at all. But it does give cities another Zoning headache – – – they are now discussing how to define what a “church” is since pot dispensaries are not permitted withing 1,000ft of a “church”, or maybe churches should be allowed to opt out of objecting to a dispensary, or .. . . oh, my #shrug.
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When my Canadian friend told me Canada was going to pot under Trudeau , I did not take him literally. How exactly will the RCMP enforce their :ban” on a legal substance? I anticipate there will be an increase in basement remodeling in the next 20 to 30 years. Now that the ultimate goal of the pot heads is achieved , what will motivate them and the answer is nothing. As the guy who washes my windows says, smoked weed for 45 years , no harm and Mom is making meat loaf tonight. He is mellow and this will take the hard edge of Canadians who usually are some of the most polite people I ever met unless they are from Quebec. Oh Canada !!!!
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Fifty years ago, we newlyweds flew to Montreal for our honeymoon. We always said we would return for our twenty-fifth anniversary, but that went by. Now is the perfect time for our return to that beautiful country, which was also the birthplace of my father. Perfect time. Yes. 🙂
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