A third year University of Victoria sociology class on drug policy recently invited me to give students a first-hand account of the drug war. Professor Michael Ma invited me to discuss the history of prohibition, the activism that eventually succeeded in legalizing the herb and the continued fight for medical access by the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club. A link to the Youtube video of the lecture is available attached to an article about this on the Cannabis Digest website.
Another veteran activist and core part of the VCBC, Owen Smith, discovered the class while taking some courses at UVic. Though most of the discussions in “Sociology 366 – Drugs, Policy, and Society” are about other drugs, one class in the semester is dedicated to cannabis. After giving professor Mike a tour of the VCBC, it seems obvious that I would be able to provide students with a personal, in-depth account of the story of cannabis.
Professor Michael Ma has been focused on issues pertaining to social justice, community advocacy, anti-racism, and harm reduction for over a decade. He was co-founder of The Social Justice Centre and his current research centres on drug use . In this course, students examine Canada’s approach to drug policy and regulation, with a focus on evaluating harm reduction strategies designed to minimize negative health and social impacts of substance use.
The course is not about promoting or discouraging drug use but aims to understand its social, economic, legal, and political contexts. Students are being taught about how drug laws and addiction theories have changed, comparing punishment with harm reduction. Discussions also cover the unequal impact of drug laws and how they hit different groups, especially by race. The role of civil disobedience and harm reduction in changing drug policy is another central topic in this class.
Some of the required reading for the course are studies done by Dr. Marilou Gagnon, who works with the Canadian Center for Substance Use, based at UVic. She has been publishing cannabis research for several years, becoming increasingly focused on the role compassion clubs play in harm reduction efforts. These studies have become invaluable tools for the VCBC as it prepares to fight in court.
No one could be more qualified to teach the story of cannabis to this class than me. From writing the textbook, HEMPOLOGY 101: THE HISTORY AND USES OF CANNABIS SATIVA, to founding the VCBC over 30 years ago, I have been at the forefront of the cannabis scene longer than most students at UVic have been alive. My extensive knowledge of the history of cannabis combined with my three decades of activism have given me a wealth of experience with the subject.
For 9 years, between 2005 and 2014, the University of Victoria Student Society Hempology 101 Club featured a free, non-credit lecture series over the fall and spring semesters. The 22 lectures covered a wide variety of topics, from ancient history to cannabis chemistry, with guest speakers like Dr. Paul Hornby and Gayle Quin contributing. Many of these lectures, and videos from conferences the UVSS Hempology 101 Club organized, are available on Youtube.
Hopefully this will be the first of many lectures I do for this class. It is very rewarding to have opportunities like this to share my stories and knowledge with eager students interested in harm reduction. Hopefully over time I will help inspire lots of them to further study the history and medical benefits of cannabis as the world awakens to the potential of this incredible plant.
