Marijuana Fear and Loathing in Quebec

 Source: CNN Travel

Sixty percent of Quebeckers support cannabis decriminalization. Sounds high but that’s the lowest figure among Canadian provinces. Quebec, what gives? 

Public forums on cannabis regulations are seeing a growing chorus of complaints. Rental property owners worry about permitting the growing of up to four plants – and its related skunky smells. The Quebec Federation of Labour and the federation that represents Quebec's chambers of commerce fear a drop in employee productivity, increased absenteeism and mental health problems. Police worry about cannabis-use and driving. Just about everyone  fears drugs getting in the hands of children. To hear these complaints you would think the Cannabis Act causes more problems than it solves.
 
It’s hard to believe for some but cannabis also does good. Growing evidence shows that cannabis is helping people with neuropathic pains, multiple sclerosis, and nausea from chemotherapy. There’s relief for chronic pain, anti-inflammation, and anxiety for medical patients. It could even help with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, as well as Parkinson’s disease. To hear it from one side, none of these benefits are true. Perhaps the real problem is the lack of public information. 

One of the best ways to describe this fear and loathing is to think of this as a generational divide. Baby Boomer tend to be more strongly against legalization than Generation Xers or Millennials. Growing up decades ago was the “Just Say No to Drugs” generation, where “This is your brain on drugs” commercials with an egg on a frying pan was the norm. Heroin, crack and cocaine were all equal to marijuana as an evil force corrupting the good kids.

Leading cities like Vancouver and Toronto are at the forefront of the business of cannabis. Whereas Montreal and Quebec City are ghost towns. Police arrest rates for cannabis possession are higher here than most other places as well. People just don’t want anything to do with marijuana.

The Couillard provincial government is wrestling with how to apply the new marijuana law, complaining Ottawa has left too much up to the province to pick up. But this roll-out to the provinces was always the way it was supposed to happen. We live in a federal framework and there's only so much a federal government can do in a province.

Liquor laws are provincial, even if supported by Ottawa’s federal criminal laws. Public healthcare and policing are provincial too. Local courts, education, and city governance are also provincial. Cannabis implementation at the province level should never have been a surprise. The only surprise appears to be asked to do something.

Quebec Health Minister Gaétan Barrette told reporters, “It’s all well and good to say we’ll get there July 1, but this can’t be settled as fast as this.” He takes a cynical view of why the federal government is rushing forward, “I understand the federal government wants to get this out of the way before the election, but socially it’s going too fast.”

But this resistance belies a core reason for the federal government's cannabis laws: the war on drugs when it comes to marijuana just is not working. The black market and its related crimes cannot be defeated by incarcerating and throwing police into shutting down grow-ops. It didn't work during alcohol prohibition in the 1930s. Kids in high schools are still getting drugs from sources we would rather have them not get from.  

Compared to New Brunswick that initiated a Crown Corporation to handle cannabis, Ontario that announced a government-run policy, and Alberta that issued a general statement of its approach, Quebec has stayed quiet. Too fast can sometimes mean being pushed from moving too slow. Health Minister Barrette’s comments reflect the worries of his constituents and caucus colleagues -- the loudest voices get heard the most, right.

Ottawa left the details for the provinces as a matter of constitutional jurisdiction that should have – frankly – been better anticipated by provincial politicians. Odd to hear for some but cannabis is perhaps just as common in Montreal as it is in Toronto. We cannot see what is behind closed doors, but it is not hard to believe our neighbours smoke weed -- and have done so for years without notice.

Of course, fear and loathing could also come from Quebec’s history with Hell's Angels and organized crime in the black market of drugs. The fear is for some that legalization means seeing it even easier for people to smoke pot. Police chiefs - like former anti-weed Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino, now an advocate and cannabis business consultant - will soon have to begin to change not only their own minds but those of others.

Guy Bourgeois, who represents the rural riding of Abibiti-East, talking about his own constituents, said, “I would say they are not at ease with this, they are in fact worried. There is a huge lack of information.”

Let’s say it again, “There is a huge lack of information.” But unlike politicians like Bourgeois who believes this lack of information squarely sits within the government realm to answer, the problem of this lack of information goes deeper, into the minds of a general public who need to learn more.

For Guy Bourgeois and Health Minister Barrette, who view Ottawa’s plans as too vague, politicians and provincial governments have to do a better job at educating the public and learn for themselves the good and bad of cannabis. As far as what we have heard so far from them, cannabis is all bad – and that is unacceptable.

Health Minister Barrette would say, “When I speak to members of the Algonquin community (located in Lac-Simon in his riding) they see other very important issues because they have problems in their community already. Having this on top of those problems is a little bit surreal.”

To be clear, talking bad about cannabis and its thorny implementation is valuable and very much justified. Particularly when unanswered questions remain. How do we deal with edible? At what age do we set the legal limit? Some are suggesting 21, despite having a drinking age of 18 in Quebec and 19 in Ontario. How many plants can residents grow, if at all?

But to lead, leaders must stand in front. Sometimes this means changing their own minds and voicing ideas that not everyone wants to hear. Cannabis is not all bad. We are not creating a society of legal criminals and zombies. This new law combats crime by taking money away from the people who benefit from its current prohibition. Adult users know better than to give cannabis to children. Teens use, in fact, is declining and will continue to with increased awareness. The restriction of pot use and driving awareness and it stiff penalties will only continue to grow.  We are adults.

The whole world will not fall apart. 

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Milton Wani is interested in the business and regulation side of cannabis. Learning about cannabis is new for everyone. That's why I wrote a book: Retail Cannabis Handbook. It's meant for people who want to open and run a retail marijuana dispensary and for people who want to learn about the industry. 

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