"Big Tobacco" would love to grab the billions of dollars that will flow from marijuana if its sale is made general and lawful across Canada.

But public health and the public treasury will arguably be in better shape if corporate industry is shut out and marijuana is carefully legalized, step by step, and made a government monopoly in Canada, as tobacco used to be in France and Spain.

I say "arguably" because there are hot-gospellers both for and against legalization, and wise decisions do seem more likely to occur if emotionally-based beliefs, and their supporting bundles of evidence, are held up to daylight.

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