Marijuana activists have seized the month of September to launch a new campaign. With growing concern for the future well-being of pot enthusiasts across the nation, they have one major goal in mind: educate politicians and voters.
The NORML Women’s Alliance of Canada, a Canadian chapter of the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws, brought their campaign to Halifax on Tuesday night. To deliver their message, the organization screened a documentary called The Union: The Business Behind Getting High.
An attendee of the documentary screening displays the poster for The Union.
About a dozen people gathered in the Windsor Theatre at the Nova Scotia Art Gallery to watch the screening. Most described themselves as marijuana enthusiasts or activists. Seated among them was Halifax MP Megan Leslie, who helped promote the event.
The documentary The Union is based on the complexities that surround British Columbia’s illegal marijuana industry. It highlights questions such as: why is the drug trade illegal? What sorts of health risks does it actually pose? What would happen if it were taxed and regulated, and how does such a large industry continue to operate while remaining illegal?
The need for a campaign
These are the questions that the NORML Women’s Alliance of Canada (NORML) want Canadians to think about, especially now, for two main reasons. Firstly, because September marks the ten-year anniversary of a report produced by the Special Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs.
The 2002 Senate report recommended the legalization and regulation of cannabis after extensive research, analysis and public hearings. It determined that marijuana is no more dangerous than other regulated drugs such as alcohol and tobacco, it has many medical uses, and it should be treated as a social issue rather than a criminal one. Government never adopted the recommendations from the report, and since then Parliamentarians have moved in the opposite direction with the omnibus crime bill that passed in March 2012.
This is the other reason for NORML’s campaign.
The Conservative Government’s Safe Streets and Communities Act imposes harsher sentences for marijuana-related crimes. It establishes a mandatory six-month sentence for growing as few as six plants for the purpose of trafficking. According to members of NORML, this bill will lead to many arrests and prosecutions of marijuana users across the nation.
The call for action
“We’re very concerned about how (the crime bill) will affect Canada’s farmers and cultivators,” said NORML’s National Co-ordinator Kelly Coulter after the film screening. “It’s being implemented on November 4, right at harvest time. I would encourage everybody who is in the activist community to start keeping track of who is being charged and prosecuted (under the crime bill). We need to keep politicians informed on who this is affecting…I urge you to keep talking to us about what you’re seeing because it’s going to start soon.”
Halifax MP Megan Leslie says the group is taking the right approach by engaging with politicians, but she also urges NORML not to stop there.
“Sometimes elected officials need help from their community so they can feel confident standing up and saying what’s right and what’s true,” she said in an interview after the film screening. “So (NORML’s) approach is excellent, but on this issue, we need to go into society and start dispelling the myths that the Conservative Government is creating around marijuana. The discourse they’ve created right now is a discourse of fear around drugs. There are many politicians who aren’t even comfortable talking about medical marijuana anymore, let alone prohibition.”
Legalization: Is it the best answer?
About half of Nova Scotia wants to see marijuana legalized for personal use, according to a study conducted in June by Corporate Research Associates. The study, which was based on a sample of 1,518 Atlantic Canadians with a 2.5 margin of error, found 49 per cent of Nova Scotians support legalization. In comparison, 42 per cent are opposed and 8 per cent had no opinion.
Study conducted by Corporate Research Associates in June 2012. (Graphic: Laura J. Conrad).
Haligonian Cory Pinhey opposes legalization, as he says it will do nothing for the health care system.
“Just like other drugs (alcohol/cigarettes), it will be taxed and contribute to health issues, like lung cancer,” said Pinhey in a Facebook post. “I’m sure they wouldn’t be putting the tax money earned off marijuana sold into the health care system.”
Marijuana can very well cause serious health problems for individuals, according to information provided by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. The organization’s position statement on the use of marijuana says “marijuana places a substantial burden on our health, social, legal, justice and law enforcement systems.” It also highlights the negative affects on people’s mental and physical health, cognitive functioning, the ability to drive and prenatal/early childhood development.
NORML says it plans to continue its campaign by engaging with other chapters of the organization and continuing to travel and educate Canadians on the impacts of marijuana laws.
“There is a light at the end of the tunnel,” says Coulter. “We have an election in three years. Our job is to keep this educational process continuing with politicians and with voters…because this affects all Canadians.”
