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Canada tokes at 4 times world average

Legolamb said:
I was waiting for someone to pot .. er post... this. BUT it's really because of la belle province. Blame Quebec. Who knew? Does this absolve or add to the crime of Celine Dion :D
Quebec smokes rest of Canada in pot use
David Johnston, CanWest News Service
Published:*Sunday, July 15, 2007
MONTREAL -- Were it not for prodigious pot use in Quebec, Canada would not have placed first in a United Nations drug study of marijuana use in the industrialized world.
In fact, were Quebec a sovereign nation, it would have finished first ahead of Canada, according to a breakdown of the data supplied by Canada for the UN study......

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=29832c65-8e44-469b-823b-081e81353cf8&k=0
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Interesting article...nice find! I particularly like where they mention what countries came first for other drugs:

Spain topped the world for cocaine, Iran for heroin, Australia for ecstasy and the Philippines for amphetamines.
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I'm really not surprised that Quebec is a major driving force of Canada's consumption. I've only been here in Montreal for a few months, but I've already seen just how socially acceptable it is to casually smoke pot. People smoking joints walking down the street, at festivals, waiting in line, et cetera.

I actually found a bag of pot lying in the middle of a walking path about a month ago. Nobody even considered it out of the ordinary :p:rolleyes:
 
Canada's drug policy is so much more in-tune with reality than that of the US. The drug czar will point to this and say, "See there, the policy is failed". The reality is, Canadians are not scared to omit they smoke.

Criminalizing marijuana was a political decision, brought on by the same small-minded individuals who sponsored prohibition. That was repealed, but marijuana did not have sufficient eco-political clout to be over-turned as well. So, those statutes remained on the books. By the late 60's, marijuana legalization looked like it would pass. Indeed, in Alaska it was legal to possess up to one pound for personal use. In Seattle, it was a civil infraction with a small ticket. Other areas also had very lenient laws. Then Nancy Reagan came in, with her hair tied too tight. She thought drugs and rock and roll were the cause of all America's problems. She began the great drug scare of the 70's.

Nowadays, if you look closely, the loudest voices against legalization are law enforcement. You see, they get billions of dollars to fight the drug war. That is how they can afford all of their toys. It is also how they get away with their dismal performance for other crimes. Arrests looking low? Go round up a bunch of drug users and get the numbers up.

Go Canada!
 
elfin buddy said:
...I actually found a bag of pot lying in the middle of a walking path about a month ago. Nobody even considered it out of the ordinary :p:rolleyes:
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It's mine. I lost it on the walking path last month. :D

Seriously, Montreal is casual about drinking, sex, weed, and other things that drive the rest of the continent and Canada mad (apart from British Columbia, where, as the same article points out, 3/4 of the pot comes from). Interestingly, living here, I don't find Montreal is a centre of debauchery at all. Most people are fairly responsible citizens (except when they drive). Toking or not does not define your lifestyle here unless you're 14. By 16 or so, most kids have figured out it's not a big deal so there isn't a cachet in doing it or not.
There are many reasons for the laissez-faire attitude here, much of which can be traced to the Quiet Revolution of the 60's against the Catholic Church as well as Anglophone society.
 
If the world were fair, they'd just make smoking marijuana legal, and make cigarettes and alcohol illegal. Alcohol can kill a drinker in one night, cause violence/fights, property damage, and more stupidity than any other drug. Pot can't. And cigarettes don't smell as good as pot, so let people smoke pot instead of cigs. ;)
 
Abstract said:
If the world were fair, they'd just make smoking marijuana legal, and make cigarettes and alcohol illegal. Alcohol can kill a drinker in one night, cause violence/fights, property damage, and more stupidity than any other drug. Pot can't. And cigarettes don't smell as good as pot, so let people smoke pot instead of cigs. ;)
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Pot can be dangerous as well. I knew guys in college that would get the muchies when high and thought it would be a good idea to drive to the store to get some food. They told stories about how they would not really remember getting to the store or driving at all. They just seemed to arrive at the store at some point.

It is still a drug that makes people do stupid things.
 
I'll see you all in a while. I'm moving to Quebec to start a mobile snack vending business. I'm thinking munchies = money.
 
Interesting stat:

"And, as far as marijuana is concerned, the data suggest only five to 15% of Canadian marijuana users are "problem" users -- a proportion that is more or less the same for users of alcohol.."

So why make that particular substance illegal? It's a waste of a society's resources to uphold the "war on drugs".
 
The decriminalization legislation didn't come crashing down. I believe it was already legal to carry around marijuana around with you as long as it was under 30 or 40 g or something. Since 2003 or 2004, it has been completely illegal and you'd get fined $200 or so, rather than just have it taken away.

Now the fact of the matter is, nobody is going to take it away from you.
 
Abstract said:
The decriminalization legislation didn't come crashing down. I believe it was already legal to carry around marijuana around with you as long as it was under 30 or 40 g or something. Since 2003 or 2004, it has been completely illegal and you'd get fined $200 or so, rather than just have it taken away.
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Nope, it has been illegal to be carrying any amount of marijuana since 1961: http://www.readersdigest.ca/mag/2004/04/marijuana.html

The proposed reforms to marijuana legislation (that never passed) would have decriminalised carrying small amounts (like less than 15 grams), but your marijuana would still have been subject to confiscation and you would be subject to fines. The difference is that if it were decriminalised, you wouldn't get thrown in jail, nor would you get a criminal record for it. It would be more like a parking ticket.

Abstract said:
Now the fact of the matter is, nobody is going to take it away from you.
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Since it's becoming more and more socially acceptable, police are doing less and less about people who smoke pot. Nonetheless, it's still well within their powers to take your pot and indict you for a criminal offence.

About Canada's Marijuana Laws: http://canadaonline.about.com/od/bills/p/mjreform.htm

Of course, if you have some links to the contrary, I'd love to see them.
 
elfin buddy said:
About Canada's Marijuana Laws: http://canadaonline.about.com/od/bills/p/mjreform.htm

Of course, if you have some links to the contrary, I'd love to see them.
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No, it was legal, but then it wasn't again.

I had this same discussion with a friend from France who didn't believe me. I told him that marijuana was decriminalized, and they would either take it away, or they would let you keep it, but give you a speech about drug use and give you a brochure with details on how to seek help for addiction and such.

However, seeing as how I'm doing my PhD in Australia and left in 2003, apparently I was actually wrong and the law changed after I left. Meh, how would I know that the law changed after I left?

Anyway, I checked Google, and I can't find the 2-3 fantastic sources I found last time. I don't know why.

Anyway, after someone was caught with marijuana, a judge ruled that Canada's laws for marijuanas are unclear and outdated, and that this person shouldn't be punished using outdated laws. The person was free to go. Later on, it changed back to being illegal.
 
Legolamb said:
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=29832c65-8e44-469b-823b-081e81353cf8&k=0
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According to the Health Canada's 2002 Youth Smoking Survey, which looked at marijuana as well as tobacco, 32% of students in Grades 7 to 9 in Quebec have smoked marijuana at least once.
That compares with 18% in British Columbia, which ranked second in Canada, and 11% in Ontario, which ranked lowest among provinces and territories
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Eventhough I don't usually have a problem with pot use. I don't think its so good for kids. 32% of 7 to 9th grades have tried dope? Thats awful.
 
Yeah, marijuana is great for sissies, but if you ever want to get into "hard" drugs, then look no farther than Spain, Europe's new Holland, but just without the legality of it all.:)
 
obeygiant said:
Eventhough I don't usually have a problem with pot use. I don't think its so good for kids. 32% of 7 to 9th grades have tried dope? Thats awful.
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Not condoning it (or any other substance) for kids, but after grade 10, it pretty much runs out as a hip thing to do. So does drinking, which starts unofficially around 14. Purely anecdotal, but my experience with about 1000 kids here who are now 19 and 20, no one gets sloshed anymore, and a handful maybe smoke twice a year (about half not at all) and only 2 kids do hard stuff (and these kids got it from their parents :eek:).
Frankly, we were more worried about tobacco.
 
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