Pubdate: Sat, 20 Feb 2016
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Copyright: 2016 Winnipeg Free Press
Contact: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/send_a_letter
Website: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502
Author: Bartley Kives
Page: D3

HIGH HOPES

Legal Weed Should Bring Mellow to the Masses, Turn Criminal Profits to Ash

AS counterintuitive as it sounds, legal marijuana will probably 
result in some Canadians getting a lot less high.

In the 1980s, marijuana tended to be about three per cent 
tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the plant's primary psychoactive 
ingredient and the substance largely responsible for making marijuana 
users feel stoned.

These days, the average THC content of marijuana is more like 12 per 
cent, and samples seized by law-enforcement agencies have tested as 
high (sorry) as 24 per cent.

The increasing potency is a result of prohibition, which encouraged 
organized crime to reap huge profits from the production, 
distribution and sale of a product that used to be grown outdoors.

Now largely grown in clandestine indoor locations, weed tends to be 
cultivated with clinical precision. Over the decades, growers have 
figured out how to boost the THC content of marijuana to the point 
where what used to be a mellow, mood-altering drug is now a potent 
near hallucinogen.

At the same time, those growers figured out how to reduce the content 
of another substance found within marijuana - cannabidiol, also known 
as CBD. This was done because CBD, which promotes relaxation and 
reduces stress, mitigates the mind-altering effects of THC.

This is why aging Baby Boomers aren't waxing nostalgic when they 
claim the chill-out substance of their hippie youth now just makes 
them neurotic. Illegal weed is not just trippier, but also contains 
less of the ingredient that makes the trippy sensation tolerable.

Legalization, promised by the Trudeau Liberals, is bound to bring 
about quality controls and regulatory practices that will result in 
lower-THC and higher-CBD strains of marijuana on the market.

This is already starting to happen, as medical marijuana users have 
demonstrated a viable market for weed that's less likely to make 
consumers agitated and paranoid. As well, in U.S. states where 
marijuana sales are legal - and in B.C. cities where illegal 
dispensaries have proliferated with impunity - recreational users 
have shown a taste for strains that induce less of a high.

In part, this is because marijuana users are no different from 
alcohol or caffeine users. Few people want to consume so much of a 
psychoactive substance that they wind up incapacitated, 
notwithstanding the weekend predilections of university students and 
professional athletes.

In Colorado, for example, visitors to legal marijuana dispensaries 
find themselves perusing the wares of what can best be described as 
apothecaries - less clinical than pharmacies, but not quite as tacky 
as head shops. "Budtenders" who consume the wares advise customers 
about the psychoactive effects of any given strain on offer.

This is a different service from that offered by staff at a liquor 
store, whose primary purpose is to advise customers about the way a 
bottle of wine tastes or how well it pairs with food.

This is why it's concerning to note how Canadian medical-marijuana 
producers are jockeying to become legal weed distributors on a 
mail-order basis. Canada is in danger of creating conditions for the 
rise of Big Bud, which may wish to continue foisting high-test 
marijuana on the populace.

It's also concerning to note both Manitoba and Ontario are mulling 
provincial control of marijuana retail sales. Late last year, 
Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger displayed how poorly he understood the 
future economic potential by declaring provincial employees won't be 
smoking weed, which he described - inaccurately - as a dangerously 
addictive drug.

Marijuana can indeed be harmful, in the hands of kids. This is why it 
makes sense to have provincial regulators enforce age limits for 
purchasing weed and control the THC and CBD content.

But the only way to ensure Canada winds up with a variety of weed is 
to ensure there's no impediment on the retail side. If legal weed is 
too expensive or too homogenous, the underground market will continue 
to thrive. Nobody wants that. If you buy weed now, you're likely 
supporting organized crime. Marijuana consumers who insist on 
purchasing fair-trade coffee and cruelty-free eggs probably don't 
want to think about the fact their weed-purchasing practices may 
provide revenue for people who force underage girls into the sex trade.

This is part of the reason Canadian police are so eager to see the 
end of prohibition. Biker weed finances misery.

It's also too strong. I personally look forward to lighting up on the 
day when weed is finally weak enough for me to handle - and doesn't 
weigh on my conscience.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom