History of how Canada is about to become the second country in the world to legalize

Inside Canada’s trailblazing, taboo-breaking, billionaire-making sprint to legalization, as told by those who made it happen.

An oral history of how Canada is about to become the second country in the world to legalize recreational pot use

I saw this article out there....and thought that I would put the link here: https://nationalpost.com/cannabis/g...tion-as-told-by-the-people-who-made-it-happen

*I don't know whether to congratulate you Canadians or commiserate with those that don't agree with how legalization has come about in Canada.

Thanks for the post, Gypsy.

It was an interesting read – especially the tension of the Senate passage of the bill. A lot of Canadians were holding our breath on that one. The two stage way the government has decided to legalize, the provincial differences in access & cannabis grow rights, the impaired driving issues are all imperfect but that said, we will still be the first G8 country to legalize. It also was (and continues to be) a huge money making exercise for those that took advantage of the opportunity.

But as Chuck Rifici says at the end: “It does feel so surreal.”

tbd

Welcome back GN haven’t seen your nick since overgrow.com days

This legalization sucks for 95% of people. If it does all goto shit I hope at least the LPs and big business get overgrown by people nug swapping

I guess that it is some sort of step forward then that hopefully works out and inspires other nations to legalize in some way or another...

Growers will still grow for their own use - regardless of the laws, but hopefully they won't have to face such harsh laws in the future - if anyone happens to discover their home-hobby-horticultural endeavors...

Jeez ortsa 1 - 12 years ago or so Overgrow folded - so much water under the bridge man since then - but yeah OG was a lot of fun - just sucks it was taken down back then by the RCMP.

Gypsy Nirvana said:

I guess that it is some sort of step forward then that hopefully works out and inspires other nations to legalize in some way or another...

Growers will still grow for their own use - regardless of the laws, but hopefully they won't have to face such harsh laws in the future - if anyone happens to discover their home-hobby-horticultural endeavors...

Jeez ortsa 1 - 12 years ago or so Overgrow folded - so much water under the bridge man since then - but yeah OG was a lot of fun - just sucks it was taken down back then by the RCMP.

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... providing they follow the plant limit as penalties post 17/10 are greater than they are currently.

Having finished harvesting, I'm glad there isn't a limit with what you can keep in your home.

Good grief!.....really? Now that's quite a harrowing thought.

So they are still going to lock people up for growing? - How many plants are you now allowed to grow at home in Canada for your own personal use?....and if you exceed that number, what are the penalties?

Switcher56 said:

... providing they follow the plant limit as penalties post 17/10 are greater than they are currently.

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4 plants will be the personal limit.

I wish they would allow 10 plants so you could at least grow an entire seed pack.

Hopefully, when the regular people see it's not the Gateway Drug they were lied about that the limits will increase or go away.

Also, maybe the UK will follow Canada's lead seeing the Lizard Queen is on some of our money.

TychoMonolyth said:

Having finished harvesting, I'm glad there isn't a limit with what you can keep in your home.

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Unfortunately you can only possess 1000g in your home in BC.

https://archive.news.gov.bc.ca/releases/news_releases_2017-2021/2018PSSG0075-001945.htm


As far as I can tell the penalties for going over your plant limit are:

(a) for a first offence, to a fine of not more than $5 000 or to imprisonment for not more than 3 months, or to both, and

(b) for a subsequent offence, to a fine of not more than $10 000 or to imprisonment for not more than 6 months, or to both.

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A huge issue will be the driving laws, limits and penalties.
First offence for testing over 5ng/ml is $1000 fine. Second offence for testing over 5ng is mandatory min of 30 days in jail, third offence is 120days. All provinces have additional penalties such as license suspension, vehicle impoundment and fines on the first offence.

There is a lot wrong with legalization and the regulations, but it is progress and hopefully now that major change has happened maybe change and progress will be a more regular occurrence.

The Cannabis Act is an extremely positive step forward.

In the past, we have seen online discussions be hostile towards legalization, no matter where it has been discussed. We have seen it here on ICM where those whose livelihoods were threatened by Legalization came out strongly against it. Growers in the Emerald Triangle were pitted against the interests of cannabis users elsewhere in California. When legalization first failed in California, we saw the acrimony break out here on ICM, too.

This time, we have a new rallying cry. We see complaints about "corporate weed" as if anybody making money off of weed who had a shareholder was anathema to the Rebel Brand™ that marijuana has always had.

In the article you link to above, Jodie Emery is most concerned about being locked out of an industry for her openly flouting the law and attempting to set up a franchise operation to sell cannabis when it was a crime to manufacture, distribute, sell, or possess it. She and her husband knew what would happen - and it did. They did it in a hope of creating a commercial enterprise that would be too large to shut down, so instead, they hoped to present a fait accomplit to regulators. That went spectacularly wrong and she is bitter about it, too.

Even then she did no time for it. Even now, under the laws of both B.C. and Ontario, she can have a chance to own a retail store chain, whether it's under the Cannabis Culture brand -- or Jodie's Joint.

Bottom Line: there are a lot of complaints about corporations growing and selling weed, about how somebody else is making money -- and how somebody else is somehow soiling the good name of pot.

These comments are fundamentally biased, greedy, and are self-interested bullshit. We've seen it before -- and we'll see it again, too.

Canada's legalization efforts are not perfect and it will be a work in progress. At the provincial level, things are particularly ugly in Quebec and Manitoba. But the courts and time will dull that reactionary response. We'll get there.

I am proud of my country. I am proud of legalization. I don't care if someone else here doesn't like it; I don't care if some here are afraid that their monetary interests are not well served.

News Flash: This isn't about you. It's about the vast majority of people who live in Canada. And on October 17, at 12:01 a.m. in Newfoundland, this will be a better country.

Make no mistake, this is not stopping here. Legalization at the Federal level in the USA is demographically inevitable. I've been saying it here for ten years -- and the poll data continues to confirm it. It has now been confirmed in Canada (where the data is equally applicable). That demographic train is arriving between 2020 and 2024. So you'd better get ready and deal with that, too.

And yes, that will mean corporate weed will be unleashed like a wildfire upon America. It will run rampant on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. There will be no stopping it. The upside to that is that once the industry is entrenched, there will be no reversal of legalization, either. It will be there to stay - for good.

Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way.

The brightest side in all of this will be that you will be able to grow your own. So the real purpose of this website will continue and only get stronger.

Unless, or course, you live in the U.K.. Because there they have "dangerous skunk". And dangerous skunk is dangerous, you see. Given the nuttiness of the UK, I can see cannabis remaining illegal there until after most of us are probably dead. So if you want to remain a rebel? There's that.

Pangea said:

Unfortunately you can only possess 1000g in your home in BC.

https://archive.news.gov.bc.ca/releases/news_releases_2017-2021/2018PSSG0075-001945.htm


As far as I can tell the penalties for going over your plant limit are:

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[DELETED]

The penalty for growing over the plant limit of four per dwelling house depends on how far you are over. At 5 or 6 plants, it's a ticketable offence only.

At 7 plants? We are back to the provisions under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Don't go there.

There is no good reason to grow more rec weed than you are permitted under the Cannabis Act. Wanting to isn't good enough. If you need more, get a medical grow license under the ACMPR.

Good article! Thanks for sharing!

Pangea said:

Unfortunately you can only possess 1000g in your home in BC.

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See you in bail court TychoMonolyth.

fatigues said:

[DELETED]

The penalty for growing over the plant limit of four per dwelling house depends on how far you are over. At 5 or 6 plants, it's a ticketable offence only.

At 7 plants? We are back to the provisions under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Don't go there.

There is no good reason to grow more rec weed than you are permitted under the Cannabis Act. Wanting to isn't good enough. If you need more, get a medical grow license under the ACMPR.

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Section 110 of BC's CANNABIS CONTROL AND LICENSING ACT

(3) A person who commits an offence under section 109 (1) (c) is liable,

(a) for a first offence, to a fine of not more than $5 000 or to imprisonment for not more than 3 months, or to both, and

(b) for a subsequent offence, to a fine of not more than $10 000 or to imprisonment for not more than 6 months, or to both.

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Can you link to any information about the first offence being only ticketable at 5 or 6 plants or 1 or 2 plants over the 4 limit? According to the ACT the first offence of going over the hard 4 limit has possible penalties of imprisonment. Its not mandatory, nor do I believe it will be the common or average punishment but it is a possibility according to the overly egregious law.

To say there is no need or even good reason to go over the limits implemented by the act, sounds very prohibitiony, I mean you said yourself its should be looked at as a work in progress, but I guess the possession and plant limits are on point in your opinion? Or do you mean no good reason when faced with threat and consequences, which perhaps is reason in itself to disobey a unjust law.

Your "bottom line" about how the complaints against the current system of LP's are all fundamentally based in jealousy and self interest is way off the mark and incredibly shallow.
The complaint is not so much that the big "bad" corps are allowed to participate, the complaint is that they, so far, are the ONLY ones allowed to participate. How many cultivators have been able to switch from the black or grey market to the white ACMPR? Its not for lack of trying, the regulations and application process is text book "regulatory capture" and overly burdened by design. It took Tantalus Labs, a not small, but small LP, 5 years to get licensed, other "hopefuls" have been in the process longer. There is no way a true small, ma and pop type cultivators could access the legal market. The exception is perhaps Canna Farms, whom I believe where in the initial "gilded 11" first LP's that were fast tracked without the regular and current burdens.

It's possible to be extremely upset and against the current cultivation and sale licensing system/details, while also still being glad and hopeful that there is overall progress in the cannabis world.

Pangea said:

Section 110 of BC's CANNABIS CONTROL AND LICENSING ACT

Can you link to any information about the first offence being only ticketable at 5 or 6 plants or 1 or 2 plants over the 4 limit?

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Sure. Source is here: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-24.5/page-6.html#h-13

PART 2

Ticketable Offences


51 (1) In addition to the procedures set out in the Criminal Code, proceedings referred to in subsection (2) against an individual who is 18 years of age or older or an organization may be commenced by a peace officer

(a) completing a ticket that consists of a summons portion and an information portion;

(b) in the case of proceedings against an individual, delivering the summons portion of the ticket to the accused;

(c) in the case of proceedings against an organization, sending the summons portion of the ticket, or delivering it, to the organization in accordance with the regulations; and

(d) filing the information portion of the ticket with a court of criminal jurisdiction before or as soon as feasible after the summons portion has been delivered or sent.

Proceedings

(2) The proceedings for the purposes of subsection (1) are the following:

(a) proceedings in respect of an offence arising out of the contravention of paragraph 8(1)(a) or (b) or any of subparagraphs 9(1)(a)(i), (iii) and (iv) in respect of cannabis of one or more classes of cannabis the total amount of which, as determined in accordance with Schedule 3, is equivalent to 50 g or less of dried cannabis;

(b) proceedings against an individual who is 18 years of age or older in respect of an offence arising out of the contravention of paragraph 8(1)(e) or subparagraph 9(1)(c)(ii) in respect of five or six cannabis plants;

(c) proceedings in respect of an offence arising out of the contravention of subsection 9(2) in respect of cannabis of one or more classes of cannabis the total amount of which is, as determined in accordance with Schedule 3, equivalent to 50 g or less of dried cannabis, if its possession was for the purpose of distributing it contrary to any of subparagraphs 9(1)(a)(i), (iii) and (iv);

(d) proceedings against an individual in respect of an offence arising out of the contravention of paragraph 10(1)(a) or (c) in respect of cannabis of one or more classes of cannabis the total amount of which is, as determined in accordance with Schedule 3, equivalent to 50 g or less of dried cannabis;

(e) proceedings against an individual in respect of an offence arising out of the contravention of subsection 10(2) in respect of cannabis of one or more classes of cannabis the total amount of which is, as determined in accordance with Schedule 3, equivalent to 50 g or less of dried cannabis, if its possession was for the purpose of selling it contrary to paragraph 10(1)(a) or (c);

(f) proceedings against an individual in respect of an offence arising out of the contravention of paragraph 12(1)(a) in respect of cannabis of one or more classes of cannabis the total amount of which is, as determined in accordance with Schedule 3, equivalent to 50 g or less of dried cannabis;

(g) proceedings in respect of an offence arising out of the contravention of paragraph 12(4)(b) in respect of five or six cannabis plants;

(h) proceedings in respect of an offence arising out of the contravention of subsection 12(5) in respect of one or two cannabis plants; and

(i) proceedings in respect of an offence arising out of the contravention of section 44 in respect of a contravention of a provision that is specified in regulations made under paragraph 139(1)(z.6).

As for the so-called laws of B.C., there is only one criminal law in Canada. Where the Federal government has exerted its constitutional jurisdiction, its laws prevail over those of any province. This is known as the paramountcy doctrine. For the same reason that Quebec and Manitoba's ban on home growing is unconstitutional -- imposing a fine for five or six plants above the ticketable offence is also contrary to the paramountcy doctrine.

There is only one criminal law in Canada. Not 11, not three, just one.

Pangea said:

Your "bottom line" about how the complaints against the current system of LP's are all fundamentally based in jealousy and self interest is way off the mark and incredibly shallow.
The complaint is not so much that the big "bad" corps are allowed to participate, the complaint is that they, so far, are the ONLY ones allowed to participate.

It's possible to be extremely upset and against the current cultivation and sale licensing system/details, while also still being glad and hopeful that there is overall progress in the cannabis world.

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The micro-grow class of licenses was introduced this summer. Same with a nursery license. That has had no discernible effect on those complaints. They continue, regardless.

Getting licensed requires both capital and a change in attitude. Capital requirements are not that steep, but it's a business. A real business, with real requirements. The process takes some money, paperwork, lawyers, patience, new business contacts, too.

My perception has been that smaller independent growers feel shut out of the process. It has been opened up to them now. In Ontario and B.C., retail has been opened up to them as well. The complaints continue. Even after Ontario announced it will permit farm-gate sales by a licensed Micro-grower -- still -- the complaints continue.

So do my conclusions. Mine is not a popular conclusion on a site like ICM. I get that. That doesn't change it though. These are self-interested views. Capital requirements are even higher for a micro-brewery, but you wouldn't know that to read about it online in a cannabis forum.

The Rebel™ runs deep in this culture. People don't like being told what they can and cannot do. While I get that, that doesn't make a law unjust or unfit.

A significant focus of the Cannabis Act has been focused on trying to put small growers out of business. The fact that it may, ultimately, do that is not something that is laudatory on most cannabis sites.

Mind you, given the problems of supply, retail, and above all, the greedy tendency of the provinces to shove their hands into peoples pockets to drive up the price, I don't think the black market is going away in the short to medium term.

Long-term? Yes it will put a large swath of it out of business. Home growing in the backyard will have this result over the long haul, in particular. Yes, I know that growing weed is not easy/peasy, but growing it outside isn't harder than tomatoes; a little less difficult, actually. And that's a LOT OF WEED that is going to be grown out there. Some of it will even be harvested, too.

There is going to be a LOT OF WEED in Canada in October of 2019. The number of ounces gifted at Xmas 2019 will be massive and wholly without precedent. Yes, that's going to cut into a lot of business, over the long haul.

Do they tell home wine makers they can only make 4 bottles?

I hope legalisation won't come to my country.
Even I don't am 'commercial' (anymore).

It would take my ace up my sleeve away.

It would be the same as who would want to buy moonshine when you can just throw a bottle of scotch in your cart in the grocery store.

troutman said:

Do they tell home wine makers they can only make 4 bottles?

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There is no plant size limit, nor any possession limit in a dwelling house under the Cannabis Act (provinces attempting to insert a limit are doing so unconstitutionally).

While a 4 plant limit is not exactly a cross-breeder's dream, practically speaking, being afforded a 4 plant count with no possession limit effectively serves the entirety of anybody's recreational needs. You can grow a LOT of weed from four plants; somewhere between a shit ton and a fuck load.

If you need more, you can go ACMPR. If you are looking to try and grow and sell on the sly, well, that's the reason there is a limit, right?

I actually think the ACMPR applications are going to go up, if for no other reason than condominium boards and landlords trying to undo the fruits of legalization. Legalization is unequal when it is broken down on a provincial and municipal level - and that's not right.

Leave it to Canada's provinces to fuck something up. Getting them to go along with a national policy is like herding cats.