The basic argument was that legalization would take the out of the criminal system, keep pot away from young people, control the quality of the substance and the government would make some money from taxation.
Of course nothing ever runs as smoothly as it should. Laws and regulations proved to be a challenge. We have ten provinces and two territories. They are responsible for the sale and control of cannabis. So each jurisdiction makes up their own rules and guess what they're all different. So as you go from one province to the next , you'd better be sure of the rules. Things get more complicated if you travel out of the country.
Institutions and businesses have a challenge controlling use by their employees. The army says eight hours after use and you're good to go out and use guns. Some police forces have outright ban the use of cannabis. There's a big debate about when you are impaired and when you are not impaired.
The challenge is that there are different levels of potency of pot and each person reacts differently.
Now the closer we got to legalization day the more frantic were the efforts to get ready.
Driving while high seemed to be one of the main topics. As of yet, there doesn't seem to be a reliable test for driving high. Telling people where they can and cannot smoke pot was pretty easy.
So today pot was the number one topic in the media.
I'm sitting back and thinking that pot smoking has been going on and we only had a law making it illegal. No other regulations were needed.
Now don't get me wrong. I believe that legalization is the way to go. Regulations are necessary.
It seems that too big a fuss is being made over the issue.
