A man smokes multiple joints in a Toronto park on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018, marking the first day of legalization of cannabis across Canada.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
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The morning after
Re With Legal Pot, Canada Takes On The World (Oct. 17): Your editorial argues that Oct. 17, 2018, was remarkable because the government, having acknowledged the scope of Canadians’ cannabis use and the reality of marijuana’s relatively limited health risks, pushed through bold reform.
Is it really a remarkable day when a country has made it so much easier for its citizens to assume health risks, however limited such risks might be?
For a country that has prided itself on encouraging healthy lifestyle choices and made access to publicly funded, universal health care a defining feature of its national fabric, it seems anything but remarkable that it would want to embark upon a social experiment that, for the vast majority of Canadians, will not result in a better quality of life and could very well have unintended and pernicious consequences for our health-care system.
The example we have set for other countries might be not to follow our example. That, you could say, made Oct. 17, 2018, remarkable.
Aly N. Alibhai, Toronto
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When I was 17, I got caught by the police with a small joint. As a consequence, my high school principal wouldn’t let me attend my graduation. Some of my friends don’t think it’s such a big deal that marijuana is now legal in Canada, but in my mind, it’s like experiencing the end of prohibition.
I don’t smoke pot any more, but I sure will appreciate the scent of it over second-hand cigarette smoke. I wonder if some no-smoking signs will eventually have icons of joints instead of cigarettes. I wonder if Amsterdam’s tourism will be affected by more countries getting behind the legalization of marijuana. I wonder why it took so long, when for years, I’ve been able to buy as much of the drug we call alcohol as I want. It’s too bad this didn’t happen when I was a young pothead. Believe it or not, I’m going to frame that little Cannabis Act card the government sent.
I don’t smoke pot any more, but I will forever call myself “a weed man.” Congratulations, Canada. We did it.
Dave Keystone, Toronto
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How much has it cost Canada in time, energy and money to get to this point with legal cannabis? Yes, there will be health benefits for some users. However, we did not wake up to an activated plan for climate change, new sewage systems for major cities to keep our lakes, rivers and oceans alive, or fresh, clean water for Indigenous communities, particularly in the North. How are we as a country able to do this one thing on “Day 1” and not those others?
Marianne Orr, Brampton, Ont.
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Finally, it’s over. On the plus side, potheads will no longer be penalized for doing what they’ve always done, pot peddlers will have to find taxpaying jobs, and research into the medicinal effects of cannabis can continue without the drug-related stigma.
The only downside is that those of us who find the smell of ordinary cigarettes offensive will now have to accept the skunk-like odour of marijuana smoke as another intrusion into our lives. On balance though, this appears to be a positive, albeit faltering, step toward a more civilized society.
Dave Ashby, Toronto
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Forgive me for my confusion. I haven’t had any pot today but I still can’t reconcile your editorial with the article from doctors Ian and Joel Gold on the opposite page (Marijuana Use And Psychosis: Young People Need To Know The Risks).
You say cannabis is relatively safe, whereas they quote a study indicating that long-term heavy users have up to six times the risk of schizophrenia, and moderate users double their risk. Health Canada warns daily use is highly addictive and can lead to psychosis and schizophrenia. How can you then assert the safety of marijuana, with these potential major health issues? Given the dearth of facilities to deal with mental illness and addiction, are we ready for the potential problems we will be facing as a society?
Morris Sosnovitch, Toronto
Khashoggi debacle
Re Crown Prince Vows To Oversee Khashoggi Probe (Oct. 17): The words “fox” and “henhouse” leap to mind.
Lynda Cronin, Victoria
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It is hard to understand how the investigation of a crime by the perpetrators can be expected to reveal what actually happened. The fact that U.S. President Donald Trump, who has no moral compass and who has long-standing business ties to the Saudi royals, is eager to be complicit in this charade should also give everyone pause.
The “investigation” will be nothing more than an exercise in futility. U.S. senators will shout and eventually slap the Crown Prince’s hand, the oil will continue to flow and massive arms purchases by the Saudis will continue unabated.
How do you spell shame?
Frank Malone, Aurora, Ont.
Unicorns, horses, dilbit
Re Vitriol And Bitumen: Alberta’s Premier Notley Trades Shots With Activist Berman (Oct. 13): It seems, according to Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s gratuitous insults to environmental activist Tzeporah Berman and anyone else who believes this pipeline is ethically indefensible, that only Albertan families matter: “Here in Alberta, we ride horses, not unicorns. I invite pipeline opponents to saddle up on something real.”
Sorry to burst that rhetorical bubble, but when I lift my eyes from my latte, I see equally hard-working British Columbians and coastal communities whose livelihoods, including an international fishery and tourism industry, depend on a clean environment. Decades ago, loggers had to adapt to a world where it was no longer acceptable to clear-cut. B.C.’s economy evolved and diversified, thanks to people like Ms. Berman.
The only unicorns I see are the ones that keep insisting, based on numbers contradicted by independent energy analysts, that there is still an international market yearning to pay a premium for dirty dilbit. Oh yes, and the really colourful unicorn of a “world class” spill response to be in place at some mythical point in time.
Refine the stuff, make the oil patch clean up its act in Alberta, get all that green technology going – then come and talk to us.
As for those spewing abuse and death threats on either side of this debate, just stop. Bullying doesn’t convince anyone of your position.
Sherry Lepage, Victoria
More suckers, please
Re Forgiveness Is For Suckers (Opinion, Oct. 13): R. M. Vaughan misses the point of the Prodigal Son parable he denigrates. He apparently identifies with the self-righteous elder brother, whereas the flawed human beings among us have wiped the fog from our mirrors and come to realize that we bear a closer resemblance to the errant younger brother who begs for forgiveness.
If Mr. Vaughan considers forgiveness to be for “suckers,” then consider that the proponents of forgiveness number among them such people as as Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King. The world would be a better place with more suckers just like them.
Michele Evans, Winnipeg