Pubdate: Mon, 09 Nov 2015
Source: Ottawa Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2015 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact: http://www.ottawasun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://www.ottawasun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/329
Author: Mike Strobel
Page: 8

TRUDEAU'S SEEING GREEN

Smoking out our new PM's promises to legalize marijuana

I was shocked - shocked! - that Justin Trudeau did not name a
marijuana minister.

Maybe there wasn't room in his shrunken cabinet. So the new attorney
general, Jody Wilson-Raybould, will carry the torch for the rookie
prime minister's sexiest campaign promise: Legal weed.

But how will our grass grow? In the next four years - before Canadians
come to their senses and dust Justin for our first Libertarian PM -
how will Pot Nation unfold?

So far, it's all smoke.

Luckily, Ms Wilson-Raybould is from Lotusland, home to B.C. Bud and
other popular cannabis varieties, where giggling is a local dialect.

If she's as smart as they say she is, she'll move quickly to end the
modern Prohibition Era in Canada. Weed is a victimless "crime" that
costs billions in enforcement.

Make something a crime and guess who shows up. Exactly. Criminals.
Then cops. And courts.

Legalize it, regulate it, tax it and the bad guys disappear or turn to
trafficking more dangerous substances, such as bacon.

If, for Justin, a promise is a promise, soon even service stations
will sell weed. Gas and grass will be one-stop shopping.

Fantasy? Well, put this in your pipe: As you read in the Sunday Sun,
the world's first pot shop/gas bar, Gas & Grass, opened in Colorado
Springs this weekend.

Imagine. Legalize prostitution, too, and you could have one-stop gas,
grass and ...

(Editor's note: Strobel!)

. lass.

Mellow out, boss. My point is Justin and his new legal eagle should
look to Colorado for guidance on how to grow Pot Nation.

The home of the Rocky Mountain high is the freest of American states
which have ended Potibition - including Washington, Oregon and Alaska,
plus the District of Columbia and the city of Portland, Maine.

Last week, one Colorado county approved a college scholarship program
funded by tax revenue from marijuana sales.

This is highly appropriate, from what I recall of my university
days.

If I'm Trudeau, I let the provinces do the same with their pot tax
haul. Leave it up to them. Ontario, for one, may prefer to build
transit or bribe teachers' unions.

In 2014, the first year pot was legal in Colorado, it put $76 million
in state tax coffers, on $700-million sales. Canada is seven times the
size, and twice as chill, so imagine all the kids we could educate, or
the subways we could build.

How will weed be sold? Like liquor, probably. Leave it up to the
provinces.

In Ontario, we could have a marijuana match to the LCBO. Get your
Acapulco gold the same way you get your Johnnie Walker Red - in a
government store. It's a safe bet and likely the most palatable to
Ontarians who fear Reefer Madness.

But I wouldn't. Queen's Park has monopolized our booze since 1927 -
and only now are they loosening the chains.

I'd leave it to licensed, inspected, but private outlets. In 2014,
Colorado issued 322 permits to pot stores, plus another 2,000 for
medical dispensaries and such.

Sweet Leaf, a Denver weed chain - yes, a marijuana McDonald's -
describes itself in ads: "Welcome to our jungle! At Sweet Leaf you
will find a wide-variety of cannabis products to assist you with your
daily needs. You will discover all kinds of edibles, tinctures,
flower, concentrates ..."

My mouth is watering - and I haven't toked up in 30
years.

Such outlets sold nearly 150,000 pounds of weed in the state in 2014 -
but that was dwarfed by a whopping 4,815,650 "units" of edible products.

If I were you, I'd run out and invest heavily in bakery stocks before
Justin ends Potibition.

Imagine your local Loblaws selling hash brownies along with regular
strudel and cupcakes. Why not? As long as they are CLEARLY MARKED.

If you're in the tourism business, you should be licking your chops.
In 2014, Colorado welcomed a record 71.3 million visitors, who spent a
record $18.6 billion, earning tax of more than $1 billion for the first 
time.

Surely, they weren't all there for the scenery.
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MAP posted-by: Matt