Canada Makes Recreational Use of Cannabis Legal

Cannabis (also called Marijuana)

Seeding of Cannabis plants

Photos courtesy: pixabay.com/

Call it cannabis, or marijuana, pot, weed, drug, bud -- they usually mean the same. It was a prohibited item in Canada for the last 95 years. From today, October 17, 2018, cannabis is legal all over Canada, which, after Uruguay, is the second country in the world to legalize the recreational use of cannabis. Previously, medical use of cannabis or marijuana was legal under strict conditions. Liberal Party's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took the initiative to legalize cannabis use for the recreational purpose like smoking of cigarettes. 

This is a drug -- it has its good effects if used properly, but it also has serious ill effects if used irresponsibly. In Canada, only adults are allowed to use it recreationally. 

Parents and guardians with children are wary of this new legalization. They are not much aware of the physical and mental effects of this drug on children, adolescents, and early youths. What about persons getting allergic to cannabis? If, what will happen and what to do, by chance, children eat edible cannabis sold in the form of brownies, candies, etc.? What will the real effect be on driving under cannabis influence? They don't know. They also don't know the effect it will have on criminal activities if persons are high on cannabis. What about home and condo owners not willing to rent out rooms to cannabis smokers? 

As the days go by, the Canadian government has to be vigilant and responsible on these matters. 

To learn more about the pros and cons of cannabis and its use, please click on the following:

• Cannabis (Government of Canada information on cannabis, health effects, addiction, medical use, market data, travelling with cannabis, talks about cannabis, and cannabis research)
• Cannabis in Canada (Wikipedia)
• Nanos survey: Nearly 8 in 10 Canadians uninterested in smoking cannabis once legal (Oct. 16, 2018)
• Canadians usher in cannabis legalization with pot parties, protests and puffs (Oct. 16, 2018)
• Canada legalizes marijuana: here's everything you need to know (Oct. 16, 2018)
• Despite marijuana legalization, medicinal pot advocates say there's still much to be done (Oct. 16, 2018)
• Cannabis tax windfall won't solve provincial money problems -- here's why (Oct. 16, 2018)
• Cannabis IQ: Here are all the legal ways to consume pot in Canada (Oct. 16, 2018)
• Cannabis IQ: A visitor's guide to smoking legal marijuana in Canada (Oct. 17, 2018)
• Pot 101: Everything you need to know about Canada's marijuana legislation (Oct. 17, 2018)
• This weed revolution will be very ... Canadian (Oct. 17, 2018)
• Here's a sneak peek inside a Quebec cannabis store (Oct. 16, 2018)
• Meet the woman who changed Justin Trudeau's mind about legalizing marijuana (Oct. 16, 2018)
• It Will Be Illegal To Drive With Marijuana In Canada Unless You Take These Specific Precautions (September 2018)
• Weed, cannabis, pot or marijuana: what's the difference? (Nov. 17, 2017)
• Hemp, Cannabis and Marijuana: What's the difference? (March 29, 2015)
• What is the difference between cannabis and marijuana? (June 13, 2018)
• Globe Investigation: What's in your weed? We tested dispensary marijuana to find out (June 29, 2018)
• Pot and Minors: Canadians being warned about dangers of cannabis (Oct. 14, 2018)
• Cannabis and Canada's children and youth (May 3, 2017)
• Cannabis for kids? Almost half of Canadian pediatricians didn't know they could prescribe: survey (July 12, 2018)
• How Canada's new pot laws will impact youth remains ambiguous (Oct. 14, 2018)

Lessons from Cannabis Legalization in Colorado State, U.S.A.

• What the World Can Learn From Colorado's Marijuana Experience (April 21, 2016)
• Measuring Colorado's "great experiment" with marijuana (Jan. 7, 2018)
• 'We made some terrible mistakes': What Canada can learn from Colorado's cannabis legalization (June 19, 2018)
• What lessons can N.L. learn about cannabis legalizaion in Colorado? (Oct. 15, 2018)
• Colorado experienced a 'sharp spike' in ER visits after legalizing cannabis: doctor (Oct. 16, 2018)

The Signs of the Times

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A sign in front of an office building
near Bay Street, Toronto
Photo (March 11, 2010)

Another sign in the NoFrills Grocery Story
in the Agincourt Mall in Toronto
Photo (December 27, 2009)
Photos © Jerome D'Costa

Teen Smoking: A World-Wide Problem

Smoking is a world-wide phenomenon. Thanks to the billion-dollar advertisements in the print media, radio and television. Smoking became an enduring phenomenon because of the "cool look" deliberately portrayed in cigarette advertisements and depiction of heroes and heroines smoking in the movies as well as addictive qualities of tobacco products.

The Canadian Lung Association mentions that between 82,000 and 99,000 young people around the world start smoking each day. Why do they start smoking? In reply, they say: "My friends smoke." "I just wanted to try it." "I thought it was cool." "My parents smoke."

Tobacco Companies Target Teens and Children

It has been proven that tobacco companies play a vital role in attracting teens to smoking. They know from their experience that if people can be hooked to smoking in young age, most of them will remain smokers until their death. This way their business and income will remain steady even if many people die of smoking-related diseases and old age.

Nicotine is a Drug and a Poison

Nicotine is one of the main ingredients in tobacco. It is a powerful addictive drug that has a powerful effect on the brain and central nervous system. Nicotine is a deadly poison, too. If a certain amount is injected in the blood-stream, a person is sure to die. As tobacco smoke contains very little amount of nicotine, it is not that deadly, but it has an adverse effect on the smoker's health.

Chemicals in the Tobacco Smoke

According to the Canadian Lung Association, the tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, many of which cause cancer. A few of these chemicals are:

• Carbon Monoxide (found in car exhaust)
• Arsenic (rat poison)
• Ammonia (found in window cleaner)
• Acetone (found in nail polish remover)
• Hydrogen Cyanide (gas chamber poison)
• Napthalene (found in mothballs)
• Sulphur Compounds (found in matches)
• Lead
• Volatile Alcohol
• Formaldehyde (used as an embalming fluid)
• Butane (lighter fluid)
  

During smoking, all these chemicals form a sticky tar by mixing together. This tar sticks to clothing, skin, and to the cilia (small hairs lining the sides of a person's lung). The cilia are supposed to clean out dirt and germs from lungs. Due to constant smoking, if the cilia get covered by this tar, they cannot function properly and, as a result, dirt, germs and chemicals stay in the lungs and cause diseases.

Danger of the Second-Hand Smoke

Even if a person doesn't smoke, but remains near a smoker, he or she also can get sick or die from breathing tobacco smoke.

Light Cigarettes are as Deadly as Regular Ones

Several decades ago, tobacco companies started to produce filtered cigarettes and came up with the attractive idea of "safe smoking" or "light cigarettes" giving the impression that these cigarettes have less amount of nicotine, tar and other harmful chemicals. Studies showed that anyone smoking light cigarettes takes in as much nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide as the smoker of the regular cigarettes. There is no such thing as safe smoking.

'Natural' or 'Organic' Tobacco

Someone producing his or her own tobacco in the backyard garden and smoking it does not become immune from tobacco-related diseases and problems. He or she still breathes in nicotine, tar and chemicals.

The Canadian Lung Association report and other reports clearly show the dangers of smoking and the cigarette marketing practices leading to teen smoking habits.

Ontario Uses Teens As Tobacco Sting Artists

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Bob Runciman, the Interim Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party and current leader of the opposition in the Ontario Legislature, said Ontario public health units have been hiring teens as young as 15-year olds in sting operations against tobacco retailers, reports Antonella Artuso in the daily Toronto Sun.

He said that under the provincial smoke-free legislation convenience store owners are being harassed, but nothing is being done regarding the sale of illegal cigarettes from aboriginal smoke shacks.

"Morally wrong" to hire "these young kids"

The Toronto Sun quotes Runciman: "They seem to be hell bent to try and harass and prosecute what are essentially hard-working and law-abiding people. And I think this is morally wrong to be hiring these young kids and sending them in, and in my view, induce these people to break the law."

The Ontario law prohibits the sale of cigarettes and other smokes to persons under the age of 19.
Some public health units hire 15 to 17-year olds to try to purchase smokes in retail stores. The intention is to detect the violators of the law.

Ontario Premier's Rebuttal

Premier Dalton McGuinty disagreed with Mr. Runciman and said that Ontario has a long-standing practice of hiring teenagers to test tobacco retailers.

"I would have hoped that my friend [Bob Runciman] would have said his real concern was selling cigarettes to under-aged young people," the Premier mentioned.

"These decisions [of using under-aged teens] are made by the local health unit, but I must say that I support this practice," he said.

Ethical-Moral Considerations

This blogger tried by e-mails to get the reaction of Mr. Runciman to the rebuttal of Premier Dalton McGuinty. At the time of writing this no reply was received from him.

The use or misuse of the under-aged teens for attempting to buy smokes from retailers demands discussion of this practice's ethical-moral considerations, especially from parents. Parents need to give a closer look at different angles of this practice and its long-term effects on teens involved.

From the point of view of law, using under-aged teens is wrong. If selling smokes to these people is wrong, so buying smokes by the same group of teens is also wrong. In the same light, sending such teens to attempt to purchase smokes is also unjust and wrong. On the other hand, this type of attempt of purchases is tantamount to seducing retailers to violate the law.

From the point of view of parents, such practices do not look right, too. Should parents let their under-aged children be used for such a purpose? What are the future repercussions on the children? Who can guarantee that by being used in such a way, some of the teens will not become attracted to smoking?

From the point of view of teens, this practice is not only unjust, it is morally wrong, too. We are teaching teens that it's all right to violate the law (of buying cigarettes even if one is not legally eligible of doing so). What is the guarantee that one day some of these teens will not feel guilty and have a remorse for being used as baits for sting operations?

This blogger informally asked 10 parents whether they would allow their under-aged teens to be used for sting operations. Seven of them said "no", three others said "yes". One of these three said: "I heard that the government pays very well to do this job."

Finally, all of us should ask ourselves: "Do the ends justify the means?"

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