When Trudeau announced his decision to legalize marijuana in Canada (set to take effect in 2018), Trump-fearing Americans vowed to seek refuge with our Northern neighbors.
So what brought Trudeau to his decision to repeal prohibition? You know what they say: behind every great man there’s even greater, weed-loving woman.
In November of 2012, two NORML Canada board members, Kelly Coulter and Andrea Matrosovs, met with Trudeau and convinced him that supporting full legalization– not just decriminalization– was the right course of action for the Parliamentarian.
“Al Capone would have loved it if alcohol were only decriminalized,” Coulter said, convincing Trudeau that decriminalization wouldn’t keep organized crime rings and gangs out of the marijuana business.
“I saw the light go on in his eyes,” Coulter said. “He was seeing this as a politician, realizing ‘I can sell this,’ ” she recalled.
Following in their footsteps, NORML Canada Board members Marc-Boris St-Maurice and Abigail Sampson went to testify before Parliament last week, discussing The Cannabis Act (C-45) with other jurisdictions in which cannabis is legal, to share their experiences in terms of public health, tax, and banking implications for legalization.
In addition, NORML Canada Board member Kirk Tousaw went to Parliament to talk international considerations and how to deal with the transport of marijuana across border lines as it remains federally illegal in the United States.
NORML Canada President John Conroy then took part in a panel on the issue of household cultivation (the current bill proposes four plants per household).
NORML Canada members are proving that citizen involvement in legalization efforts with lawmakers, even simply having a discussion like Coulter and Matrosovs did with Trudeau, can make an enormous difference. Only time will tell if the United States will be able to follow the example set by our neighbors to the North.
Follow NORML Canada on Facebook, Twitter, and visit their website at: http://norml.ca/
Time and participation! Everyone click on the Act tab and get in your state and federal Congressmsn’s faces! Educate, and persuade for legalization with every allusion at our disposal. For example, Im going to a fundraiser for Beto Orourke tomorrow evening. $100 buy ins, suit and tie. (Make it a date night later, just dress up and match please!)
I believe if Beto wants to take his campaign against Senator Cruz seriously so we can legalize marijuana we should say “El Chapo had something in common with Senator Cruz; Prohibition made them both profit. While El Chapo smuggled drugs through tunnels, Cruz made profit from Geo Group and Corrections Corporation of America, the nations two largest private prisons to further enforce prohibition. Cruz pretended to reverse cruel drug punishments only to lie to Texans and vote to keep mandatory minimums at the last minute. He even lobbied as solicitor general to incarcerate people for allegedly “stimulating ones own genitals.” Congratulations Ted Cruz, you made El Chapo a lot of money and now a whole new line of prohibitionists and apparently, according to your own office porn, you should even incarcerate yourself.”
The fundraiser was a success. Beto said he “will consider joining the Cannabis Caucus.”
And I managed to refrain from asking him if he would ask Cruz if he was going to incarcerate himself for getting busted with porn in his Senate office. Y’know, since Cruz advocated 2 years of incarceration for “touching ones own genitals inappropriately.” We gotta pick our questions wisely!
BTW, Canada has complete health care so theyre not fighting a predatory private insurance lobby just to legalize marijuana… not near the way we have to in theU.S.
But yes, it will take ALL of us citizen lobbying to legalize marijuana and get the unlimited campaign donations from our own tax and insurance dollars out of politics and out of NIDA and the DEA forever.
Very well said. Thanks
But they ARE going against the alcohol industry.
Roland, to my knowledge Canadian alcohol is state controlled. Nowhere in my limited research did I find the Canadian government “going after” the alcohol industry. Care to explain?
If consumers prefer to make a healthier choice to consume more marijuana than alcohol that is the consumer “going after” alcohol (or before, however you choose to mix your quality craft beer with quality weed instead of chugging the box of cheap poison).
https://www.google.com/amp/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4048519
If the Canadian government is aware that alcohol will suffer in sales to legalized marijuana than they are prioritizing the health of their citizens over what is going after alcohol abuse in the industry, not the existence of the entire alcohol industry. Jeez, you make it sound like big alcohol is gonna dry up in smoke! If cheap beer and booze has to get replaced by quality spirits and craft beers because consumers are making healthier conscious decisions by smoking quality weed then I wont shed no tears… just drink less and better beers!
Politics aside, what the NORML Women’s Alliance accomplished with Trudeau is not only inspiring it will be remembered in legend.
Nice blog, thanks for sharing.