Cannabis Digest publisher Ted Smith has accomplished a great deal as a cannabis advocate: from founding the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club, to hosting the largest student club at the University of Victoria, to runnning 4K in a 10 ft. tall pot leaf costume in under an hour. He has led numerous legal challenges against bad […]
Tag: legalization
So This Is Transparency: A Timeline on Deciphering Trudeau
Judith Stamps July 2013: At a political rally in Kelowna BC Justin Trudeau announces that he is in favour of legalizing and regulating the sale of Cannabis in Canada; cheers all ‘round. October 19, 2015: Trudeau wins a comfortable majority. His platform includes legalizing and regulating cannabis. Activists are cautiously optimistic. Trudeau strives for gender […]
Licensing Cannabis Dispensaries Undermines Gangs
Ted Smith Legalizing cannabis will help generate revenue by taking an industry that has traditionally operated underground and allowing it to prosper under a regulated market, while also saving vast amounts of valuable government resources currently spent on enforcing the laws. Prohibition has created a civil war, with government troops on one side and organized […]
More Raids on Dispensaries? What in Tarnation?
Judith Stamps The recent raids on medical cannabis dispensaries in the cities of Nanaimo and Toronto remind us how tenuous is the situation for storefront providers of cannabis medicine. They depend on the charity, good will and enlightened attitudes of city councillors, law enforcement agents, health officials, neighbours, and anyone else with clout. Doctors remain […]
I Wouldn’t Call Them Budtenders – If I Had My Way
Judith Stamps A glance online will tell you that it is too late to eliminate the term ‘budtender’ from the cannabis industry. Definitions are offered in Urban Dictionary, Wiktionary, the Marijuana Glossary, and Merriam Webster. Budtender is a blend of ‘bud’ and ‘bartender.’ The budtender, one reads, is: “the first person that one sees at […]
Cannabis: Where We Are; Where We Might Go
Judith Stamps Legal cannabis will walk onstage in the midst of a crazy scene. But then, maybe all historical periods are crazy scenes. Here are some features of ours. In the 1880’s industrial nations moved from plant-based to chemically based medicines. The transition was hailed as progress, and had, among other effects, a profound influence […]
Cannabis Dispensaries and the Meaning of Civil Disobedience
Judith Stamps If you look at the cover of the May 2016 issue of MacLean’s, you will see a pastiche of cannabis dispensary photos overlapped by a bright yellow circle. In the circle are the phrases: A DRUG DEALER ON EVERY CORNER; ridiculously easy to buy; completely out of control; with the addition of the […]
The Truth About Cannabis: Complexities in Public Discourse
Judith Stamps There is no demon weed, but there are demons that plague our personal and social conversations on cannabis. Here are a few. Eight Logical Fallacies 1. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc, called ‘post hoc’ for short. In English: after this, therefore because of this. In real life it looks like this: Oscar used […]
Cannabis Plants, Like Cats, Require Minimal Regulation
Be It Resolved That Cannabis Plants, Like Cats, Require Minimum Levels of Regulation, If Any: A Ramble on Regulations Judith Stamps Imagine a group of city planners and cannabis medicine specialists, designing a system for patient access. Because the oldest compassion clubs are, to date, the best available authorities on medical cannabis and community liaison, […]
Overgrowing Canada with Cannabis
Ted Smith If you care about cannabis, this is the year to grow some. Whether you intend on smoking it, juicing it, baking it in a cookie or giving it to your cousin, this year it is very important for everyone who can to grow a few plants in their gardens or living room. Instead […]