Andrew Brown
Editor
Thanks for picking up another issue of the Cannabis Digest. A lot of people work really hard to get each issue out, and we all appreciate when we get the positive feedback from our readers and the kind stores who carry and distribute the newspaper. It helps to keep us going. I also appreciate the help from Owen and Dieter to fill in those last minute gaps when putting the final touches on each issue. I’d also like to thank our advertisers for their support, and encourage our readers to support them, and encourage you to suggest to your favourite canna-friendly stores that they try advertising with us—every penny goes back into activism.
Support is something that we all need, and unfortunately many people do not have enough. As we face one of the most turbulent years in the Canadian canna-political landscape, everybody in the cannabis community needs to be supportive of each other. The hatchets need to be buried and the peace flames lit. There are so many groups across Canada who do amazing work, each doing something a little different, that we should support and feed off of their effective strategies and ideas.
We are always looking for interesting groups to feature, and would like to hear about what you are doing. Please feel free to email me about your events or the general work your group does, and perhaps we may be able to feature you in an upcoming issue.
There is a vast wave of conservative ideals making their way into municipal, provincial, and, of course, federal government. In Toronto, vapour lounges are even being threatened with closure, and bylaws are being enacted in many communities across the country to stop headshops and compassion clubs/dispensaries from opening. It is beginning to feel like the early to mid 1990s again.
I remember after one of the raids on Hemp BC, when I was around 16 or 17, heading into town the following day to show my support by buying a pipe and (I believe it was then) one of the early vapourizers. I wasn’t an activist, but I knew the pot laws were ridiculous, so I did what I thought could help at least a little.
As the laws tighten, we need to—at least—provide this type of support to our canna-friendly stores and activists, so that they can continue a public fight for all of us. And with public support the highest it has ever been, we have the means to send a message to our governments that Canada does not support cannabis prohibition.
