Recreational and medical users alike in British Columbia are without a legal source right now, as the cannabis distribution union (BCGEU) has walked off the job. Cannabis was "legalized" in Canada by Justin Trudeau in October 2018, but it has failed to make a huge difference to the free (aka black or gray) market, which has thrived since the beginning of prohibition in the mid 1900s. Now we encounter yet another downside of legalizing a medicinal plant that should never have been criminalized in the first place: your dealer(s) can suddenly go on strike!
Yet another supply chain has broken down, and cannabis is a multi-billion-dollar industry here, so this has major implications not just for individuals, but for the Canadian economy. Luckily, most medical patients who need cannabis have already found a source in the underground, but there are many who rely on these legal government weed shops. As bad as legal cannabis is, and as expensive as it is, it's still a source for some people who can't grow or obtain it otherwise. I feel truly sorry to those people most of all right now. There will be many who can't sleep, whose tumors spread, who have panic attacks, who suffer debilitating pain, who return to hard street drugs, whose nerves problems flare up, who have seizures, and who die... because some government employees want a raise, and won't sell the public weed until they get one.
Legalization was never about freedom, or about ending prohibition. It was about bringing in and then enforcing a corporate monopoly, selling low-quality mass-produced irradiated bunk, for prices far higher than proper cannabis sold on the free market. It didn't end criminalization of this incredible plant, and now, it has become a barrier between sick people and their medicine. THAT is truly sick - and evil.
Cannabis "legalization" is a lie. That's why I've been screaming that phrase from the rooftops for an entire decade. I warned legalization would not "free the weed", as the activist community was hoping. I fought against it on the streets. I marched, I entered City Hall, I attended historic smokeouts and cultural events, I was part of the Cannabis Day 2015 riot, I know all the famous cannabis activists, I held up a bridge to smoke a bong in protest with several dozen fellow patients, I ran a cannabis modelling team, I held a 2.5 year long cannabis farmers market on Robson Street in downtown Vancouver, I was there when "legalization" took place, I watched my wife dragged away by police for her involvement in cannabis activism, and I made a documentary about my experiences. I called it:
Pre-legalization, if your dispensary went on strike (moved, closed for repairs, etc) you went to a different dispensary. Back before there were dispensaries, there were private dealers. If a dealer went on strike (didn't pick up his phone, went on vacation, etc) you had a backup dealer. And if he wasn't available, you called your cousin. Then your buddy Darryl that always steals your lighter. But you were never completely out, if you knew where to look and were persistent enough. Now, with "dealers" centralized into a single legal source, spread across dozens of shops around the province, if there's a strike (or any other kind of disruption) the whole system grinds to a complete halt, and nobody is scoring any dank. Which is a serious problem for medical users.
My wife and I have been medicating with cannabis for many years, including nonstop since "legalization" in 2018. Extracts of cannabinoids like THC and CBD saved me from dangerous pills for PTSD and pain, and keep @MediKatie's cancer and radiation effects at bay. Yet we have NEVER - not even once - used any legal cannabis. Every day, every time, it's cannabis sourced from the free market. I've grown some, I've received some from friends who grew, and I've bought a large amount from local free/black market dispensaries. It's cheaper, it's cleaner, they offer far more strains and products, and they're always available. That's a real market.
I really hope these workers get what they want soon, and get back to work. Even better, I wish the medical users who rely on legal weed would use this opportunity to try and find a source in the free market. If possible, it's best to know your grower, and if you can, BE your grower! But if you can't, try not to support the "legalized" government pot shops. And please spread the word - cannabis legalization is a lie!
DRutter
In my country smoking and gowin cannabis is a crime. I have some friends who sell it even though it is not allowed and i have smoked it at some point....Some are really making cool money from it.. i hope they are alloed to get what they want because Government has a way of someetimes oppressing people and trampling on their rights. This happens in Nigeria because NDLEA which is the agency in charge of it can burst into the home of any seller or grower and arrest them. Thats sad. Smoking Tobacco is legal but cannabis is illegal...Whaats the difference?
On strike because that big hairy guy front and centre wants to go back to his mom's basement lol! That's what happens when a bunch of ninnies try to take control of the cultivation and distribution of a plant. Legal LIES. No wonder they wanted it legalised, so they could include it in the manufactured shortages.
So much disruption in many supply chains making life harder for many people 😩
Re🤬eD
Unsolicited erect bud pic!
Here, in Nigeria, Cannabis is still very much illegal and people with it always get arrested. A lot of people abuse it here and that's why thay cannot make it legal
Thanks for your comment. Can you please explain how people in Nigeria abuse cannabis?
People below the age of eighteen are not supposed to take it here and they take it. That's a form of abusing it.
Also, some people take excess cannabis which makes them hyperactive. That's another way of abusing it
Well, they could just end the laws that say certain people can't take it, and then their actions won't be illegal anymore, and then they won't be abusing it.
I think some people get hyperactive after coffee also, is that abusing caffeine (the drug in the coffee bean)?
Better late than never to catch your posts...Had to take a moment to write my latest, and set up that witness ;)
What a crap shoot, legalized weed has become over there. It was decriminalized and like "grey" market before that for many years? At least that is what this American was led to believe but I'm not sure. All I hear in Highschool and college, was BC Bud, and how great and free weed is in Canada.
One thing I can tell you with out a doubt, is here in Thailand, it's like night and day since they legalized it a couples months ago. Everything continuing on that same pattern we discussed before. Better stuff/selection and lower prices.
Better than me, woops. Sometimes I don't even read posts in the first week, ooops, haven't been spending much time on the computer lately. Yeah, B.C. bud is pretty amazing, hence we made a holiday out of it a few years ago. When we still lived in Vancouver we had a celebration and open cannabis farmers' market on B.C. day (our civic provincial holiday) and called it BC Bud Day.
In germany it is still illegal
We can only wish for the good old days when it was still illegal in Canada. Prohibition was bad but legalization is far worse.