The legalization of weed and the future

[urquell]

So it's been a few years since weed was made legal here, and a lot of people thought there would be catastrophic changes to society once that happened, but anecdotally for me it's been crickets. I've found the changes to be mostly invisible, with virtually no casual impact on society or comportment in public whatsoever. I do know that there have been some issue with edibles but largely the benefits of the change seem to have been positive, freeing a lot of police resources and generating billions in tax revenues. I'm not sure what impact there has been on driving infractions but I assume those have likely gone up a bit. Has anyone noticed anything that has really stood out to them in the way of an in-your-face public change?

This has come up for me over the course of a conversation about legalizing and controlling other currently illicit drugs. I'm pretty comfortable with weed being legal but the new strains are so strong compared to what they used to be, and getting stronger, that it may be worrisome in the future? Should there be some kind of limit on that? I'm not sure how wild I am about legalizing other, harder drugs as well.

Full disclosure, I am not a weed user or a user of any other drugs excepting liquor, so I admit to vast degrees of ignorance on the subject, despite my exposure to a wide circle of people who are or were active users of hard core drugs. I'm curious as to what others who are more experienced or better informed may think of this.

 

[perso]

The legalization did not increase the amount of users by much. It basically gave the freedom to smoke everywhere vs in hidden areas without being afraid to get caught and arrested. Yes the strings are getting stronger but only on the street market. The Quebec government being the sole legal distributor has a tight control on the THC strength from the authorized licensed producers. The 21 to 35 year old seems to move away from weed and alcohol. Inflation has also had a negative effect on the remaining users. It is a stable market now and the growth has stopped. Vapes is becoming the next best thing but it’s taking away sales from the rolling paper business. So it still remain stable. It still generates great sales but not “billions” in revenues.
I sincerely do not think the hard drugs will be legalized anytime soon. In fact I do not see it happening ever. Imagine buying heroin at the store. It would be a big hype for a short time and the users will start to drop like flies, creating a much larger society problem than it is now.

 

[Thor Jr]

My opinion on this subject from the start is and always will be that it was a mistake to legalize weed. Although I can not smoke anymore, due to reasons beyond my control, I loved the challenge that came with obtaining weed. When something is harder to obtain, it just makes it so much better.

Those nights spent with friends, at baseball fields, cemeteries, basements, rooftops and even in the park across street from a police station, just made it taste better, the whole experience was just so much better.

Now, I don't have much of a say in the matter on whether or not my kids or others kids are doing. Also, when at work, its hard to tell someone to not come in stoned, its legal. I know, they are not supposed to be at work if they are stoned, but being legal makes it harder to tell someone to go home for being under the influence. And it makes a huge difference in my multiple lines of work.

People smoking up in condo buildings is now okay and you cant say anything. Of course it can be put into the bylaws that no smoking of weed on the premises, but its still legal and making it harder to enforce it.

I'm just saying, it was so much more fun when it was illegal. Also, how can you raise your children to abstain from smoking till they are of age of consent and can make a judgement that they can live with.

To have your 15 year old kid come home stoned and get the crap of "but its legal". What I'm saying is they would hide it better if it wasn't legal and knew the repercussions of smoking weed. I know my friends and I made it a point to make sure we didn't get caught and that just made it even better.

I'm no angel, I started young(very) I don't regret it, I had many fun filled days, from skiing to riding roller coasters at great adventures, but sometimes I think about how my life would have developed having not ever smoked weed.

Maybe alcohol would have been a bigger factor, or not at all. Or other mood altering substances would have been introduced.

We will never know...My take on this subject.

 

[urquell]

It still generates great sales but not “billions” in revenues.

Yes, it does. Quite literally a multi billion dollar business according to the federal government. That's part of the reason why I thought it might be more "in your face" than it actually is. To me it's almost like nothing happened at all and makes you wonder why we made such a big deal of it in the first place.

 

[Thor Jr]

Yes, it does. Quite literally a multi billion dollar business according to the federal government

I believe its the only reason they legalized it, the money. If there were no profits, they would of never touched it. More revenue for them in fines.

 

[Halloween Mike]

I always was for legalizing it. Even tough i never been much of a weed smoker (did a bit during my late 20s but only at parties and always because it was given to me for free lol). I never understood why it was illegal to begin with as its not worst for health than cigarette and the effects are not worst than alcool. I don't see any other drugs becoming legal exept maybe ecstasy or something like that. I mean if it was governement controlled and offered at raves etc it would be safer than the crap they put in there on the street. But i highly doubt the gov would risk tryng that.

Other hard drugs can be so destructive that obviously they won't ever get near that.

Funny enough i always say the only good move Trudeau ever did (in a bottomless pit of terrible governance) is legalize weed ...

As for the impact on society, i simply think its not major because peoples who wanted to smoke weed before would do it anyway. Now its just simplier to get and there is no legal worry.

 

[Smitty Jaeger-Manjenson]

They won't legalize stuff like crack, heroin, etc. because those things kill people. One could argue "well, junkies will just buy them from the dealer and die anyway", the counterargument being "exactly, they will die anyway, the state becoming a merchant of death and profiteering off dead junkies would be a moral event horizon".

edit: inb4 MAID, Canada is already a merchant of death lolol. Rire jaune.

 

[talkinghead]

Since most of us are presumably in favor of liberal (or libertarian or libertine) laws around pleasures of the flesh, I'd assume that we'd also be fairly tolerant about regulating pleasures of the frosty green weed. Legalize it! That said, I've seen up close the damage done by hard drugs, especially the highly addictive kind, and I'm opposed to legalizing that junk. I should also say that I'm not a resident of Quebec and don't feel like I have much voice in the debate. Being able to purchase cannabis legally in Montreal on my visits has been wonderful, and I sure hope I'm not contributing to any problems.

 

[Smitty Jaeger-Manjenson]

Now, I don't have much of a say in the matter on whether or not my kids or others kids are doing. Also, when at work, its hard to tell someone to not come in stoned, its legal. I know, they are not supposed to be at work if they are stoned, but being legal makes it harder to tell someone to go home for being under the influence. And it makes a huge difference in my multiple lines of work.

-But it's legal.
-So is alcohol but if you come to work drunk, your dumb ass is fired. Think about that when you sober up.

 

[EastWind]

-So is alcohol but if you come to work drunk, your dumb ass is fired. Think about that when you sober up.

There was a guy who started the same day as me at hedge fund I was working at. He had a drinking problem. Two months later he was let go. Being drunk and dealing with numbers that require accuracy and precision do not mix.

 

[urquell]

There was a guy who started the same day as me at hedge fund I was working at. He had a drinking problem. Two months later he was let go. Being drunk and dealing with numbers that require accuracy and precision do not mix.

Being drunk and doing things that require operating tools or machinery when drunk isn't a good idea either. Being drunk at work generally isn't a good idea no matter what you do, unless you're a DJ/announcer at a strip club, in which case it's hilarious.