Trust me i have the same fears as you with this but I know society is progressing, although the fight is surely not over, we need to push for full decriminalization imo. No one should go to jail over a plant.
The fact that we have all this hypocrisy with the former Toronto chief of police and Ex Deputy Commissioner of the RCMP sitting on the executive board as well as being the CEO and President of a Cannabis company does not sit well with me. They and their friends have been jailing people for decades for doing the same thing they are now getting into business for themselves. Makes me sick to be honest. The people that have fought for these right since day one are being stepped on and the people that were demonizing cannabis before are now setting up to profit from it, just is so wrong and heartbreaking. But i will remain optimistic because at least it will be legal for everyone to own their 4 plants per household. That is a huge step although i agree most of the new penalties are a step backwards it seems. I'm just not sure how much they will be enforcing those new penalties. Maybe it will end up being pretty lax in the long run, lets hope. If not we will fight, and I will be there helping just as i know you will be my friend.
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"Trust me i have the same fears as you with this"
Actually, that's all I needed to hear. Thanks for getting it :)
I believe in being aggressively optimistic about the future, but aggressively realistic about the present. I'm oversensitive on the issue because it directly impacts my life, and @MediKatie's life, and we have friends in prison for peaceful cannactivism. Some of our friends (including us at times) can't get enough cannabinoids to treat our symptoms because the price is so high due to prohibition. Many of us could grow acres of quality cannabis if not for unjust laws that have only been around for 3 generations. And MediKatie and I have friends who have died because of the above issues and their complications. We understand why the activism community is so broken - for the most part, it's not their fault. These are some of the best people in Canada, changing things for the better all the time, rarely with any recognition or pay. In fact most of them are scorned and told to get a job, it's pretty tough to be honest, but we do it because we must, not because we're looking for approval.
And like you said, we're getting somewhere. It's just sad to be losing so many people along the way, when it really shouldn't be taking this long, or being so corrupted and inefficient.
Only BC and maybe a couple other places are allowing plants at home. There's provincial prohibition on top of the federal prohibition. It all adds together, not subtracts. And then there is local prohibition as well. Only a couple cities in BC are going to allow plants. And then there is residential prohibition on top of everything, a 4th level. Strata councils, apartment boards, and landlords have decided for the most part to ban plants.
So in Canada there may be only a few neighborhoods with plants, and only in stand-alone houses where the owner is the primary occupant. Almost literally nobody in Canada at all.
And they've launched a new provincial police force now. We have the RCMP federally, and we have local police forces, but now we also have provincial cannabis cops. They're already going through dispensaries computers, inventory, patient files, and so on. There are hundreds of dispensaries in BC, serving hundreds of thousands of patients, and ALL of them are being closed. Some of these places were started by activists 25 years ago and have never turned a profit, but they're being raided and imprisoned.
Check google. It's terrifying.
But yes, if we admit the truth of the current situation, massive amounts of optimism for the future are warranted! It's bad now, but it won't be bad much longer :)