• Cannabis Discussion Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules

Canada legalizes cannabis: October 17th, 2018

blistersinthedark said:
TBH the overpackaging is fucking horrific. The law needs to be changed to allow bulk sales ASAP.
Click to expand...

Yeah they have bulk sales at the private stores in Manitoba; but the bulk sales (3.5, 7.0 or 15.0g) each come prepackaged in their individual materials.


Tom

(One guy bought 20 individual grams in 20 boxes).
 
Provinces raked in revenue on day one of cannabis sales
Josh Dehaas
October 18th, 2018

Quebec's Societe Quebecoise du Cannabis (SQC) reports that its dozen provincially-run retail locations had customers waiting up to four hours to buy its products. There were 12,500 in-person transactions in the first 15 hours, the SQC says.

The SQC also made 30,000 transactions online, a volume of orders that it says "far exceeded" expectations. The SQC is warning of a possible shortage of oils, gels, sprays and pre-rolled joints as result.

...

In Nova Scotia, where sales are handled by the government-owned Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation, there were 12,810 transactions at its dozen brick-and-mortar locations and its online shop. NSLC says that amounted to $660,000 in revenue, including $47,000 sold online.

In British Columbia, only a single legal retail shop was open on Wednesday. The B.C. government says the store in Kamloops recorded 795 transactions. Meanwhile, B.C.'s online cannabis shop received 9,137 orders.

In Prince Edward Island, where the government has opened three stores plus an online shop, total sales on the first day were more than $152,000 after tax, or about $1 per person in the province. Just under $21,000 of the day one sales were made online.
Click to expand...

Read the full story here.

-----

South Korean warnings and Russian scorn: How the world reacted to pot legalization in Canada
Marie-Danielle Smith
National Post
October 23rd, 2018

South Korea's government tried to dissuade its citizens from toking by tweeting on its Ottawa embassy's account last Tuesday, in Korean, that they would still be breaking South Korean law by smoking weed in Canada.

...

In a statement posted to its embassy's Twitter account, the Russian ministry of foreign affairs said it considers Canada's decision "unacceptable" and "hypocritical." The statement was only posted in French, catching the attention of media outlets such as the Journal de Montreal but escaping attention in English Canada.

"We are convinced that this legislative act contravenes international jurisdiction on narcotics control," the statement read. It warned Canada was ignoring "the consequences of its actions for the integrity of international law."

...

The United Nations body that governs international drug control, the International Narcotics Control Board, issued a statement last Wednesday reiterating its "regret" at the policy choice. Canada is violating its agreement to "limit the production, manufacture, export, import, distribution of, trade in, use and possession of drugs exclusively to medical and scientific purposes," the statement said, which the INCB argued weakens the whole institution.

An international meeting of the control board is scheduled for the first two weeks of November where parties will "examine the matter," according to the statement.
Click to expand...

Read the full story here.

Weakening the International Narcotics Control Board? That's something I can be proud of my country for! =D
 
Quebec cannabis stores to close 3 days a week due to chronic shortages
Marilla Steuter-Martin
CBC
October 26th, 2018

Quebec's government-run cannabis stores have announced that as of Monday their opening hours will be trimmed due to the chronic shortages the shops have experienced since marijuana became legal.

The Societe quebecoise du cannabis (SQDC) outlets will no longer be open Mondays, Tuesdays or Wednesdays.

Montreal stores sold out of stock by noon at least two days this week. Of the 12 cannabis stores in Quebec, three of them are in Montreal.

The SQDC said in a release that the new hours will be in effect until the "availability of products is stabilized."

It went on to say the decision to close the stores will consolidate stock deliveries and mean more efficient customer service on the days the stores are open.
Click to expand...

Read the full story here.
 
those stores look way too sterile and unfriendly for my liking... a nice Cafe and huge jars full of bud is what I wanna see. still, good for you, Canadians. :)
 
Just wanted to say thanks for keeping us all updated those pictures were cool.
As far as packaging goes I think it looks nice, but I do wish you could see what you're buying. Though it could be worse, in Florida you can only buy medical weed in pre-packed "vapor" pods. So if you want to actually smoke the weed you have to get a hammer, break the pod, and scrape out the already ground weed lol
 
pretty spot-on opinion piece:
https://www.capebretonpost.com/opin...Y4oirP6h_4852ud1IMMz3Phb3cQn7paDwZfjDhTfq7DVY

A closer look at 'canna-business'
David Delaney

When it comes to corporate takeovers we have just witnessed a modern-day work of art. We have been played by the new owners so well that we think it is us who are the benefactor of the operation, when in reality we are its pawns.

The takeover is the marijuana production and sale industry by the Canadian government and we have aided and abetted it with our acceptance of the false notion that somehow we have obtained a new right. The takeover was a masterstroke of public relations doubletalk.

The government saw massive tax revenues to be garnered from an industry generally thought to have domestic sales of four billion to seven billion dollars. Their corporate sponsors saw enormous profits. Remember, the mechanisms of the state feed on two concepts: power and control. All other interests are subservient to these two.

We are told that three factors motivated our government to seize control of the weed industry. All three rely on the oldest trick in the book to direct and move public opinion: fear. Fear is an essential tool of state authority and it works. Scare the crowd and cower it into taking the course you want it to follow has long been a very effective tactic. Mendacity is the language of politics and every word is used to mask and not reveal truth.

In the case of marijuana use, the writing was on the wall. A restless public majority no longer respected marijuana's prohibition and categorization as a dangerous drug. The government realized that if it was to have control of the industry and its profits, it would have to come up with a control mechanism for marijuana production and sale. Otherwise the product would go the way of lettuce and string beans and could conceivably end up as another item on the produce table at local farmer's markets. Such a result would mean no rich tax revenues and no pay-offs to well-heeled corporate interests and contributors.

So, how to grab control of manufacture and sales before the dam burst and a free market extravaganza told hold became the issue? The answer was an ingenious one. Declare the product legal but its production and sale subject to government control. Don't tell the people their acquisition of it is restricted. Instead, tell them they are given a right to buy it, ignoring the fact that rights are not given, they are either eliminated or restricted. They may be enshrined, as with constitutional protection, but this is to make their eradication more difficult. It does not create them.

In addition to incorrectly but effectively telling the people they have a new right, next employ the noted fear factor. This device adopted, as mentioned above, three themes: first, tell the public that government control would be the best way to limit marijuana use by our youth. The “having us as the new dealer will protect your children,” argument. Next, suggest that a government sales operation is more acceptable than having criminals doing it. The fact the product was deemed no longer illegal and therefore how could people selling it be criminals was not addressed. Finally, the government said their weed was better for you than the weed you have been purchasing over the last number of years.

These three fear factors are convenient excuses and not real justification for the government decision to take control of sales. The real reason is money. Government sees it. The corporate world wants it. Neither can tolerate not grabbing as much of it as possible and will use every state instrument to achieve this goal.

If there were no money in it for the corporate state and its foot soldiers — namely converted former police chiefs, now marketing managers, ex-politicians playing their inside-the-beltway cards and the remainder of that special class of hypocrites — we would hear nothing of the protection of youth, squeezing out so-called organized crime and quality control. Neither would we be treated to their veritable Saul on the road to Damascus conversion concerning weed's so-called health benefits.

Simple decriminalization, a more sensible alternative to state control, would not have satisfied the government's principal goal of making money from the enterprise. It would have left production and sales to the people. Now it is the exclusive purview of the state, armed with police and Canada Revenue Agency protection, guaranteeing command control over the marketplace.

As with gambling and liquor, it is not the act but the actor that concerns government. They want it all. The newspaper picture showing the smiling faces of people in line at the Sydney River Liquor Store should have instead showed the greedy politicians and their corporate friends slapping one another's backs, rejoicing at the prospect of the rich revenues their new business would soon provide them.
Click to expand...
 
^ Lots of fear mongering with no factual information is what I got out of that piece. It basically says it's bad because the federal government is involved. It's a pretty stupid argument honestly. The free market takes time to get right, especially a whole country. You can't just expect shit to immediately be the best thing ever when we have been living in prohibition for almost a century.

In the US, our main problems with legal weed occur because the federal government isn't involved (yet). We have no banks to put our money in. We have little to no consistency across boarders. Our border control is plain stupid. International relations is now in the hands of Canada. Canada has the biggest influence over making international laws change. This industry moves fast and waits for noone. See ya later!
 
Great Decision, Canada is the whole country got legalized recreational Marijuana, It is the 2nd largest country who allows the Marijuana after Uruguay. 17th Oct is the history create day for the Canada. Good to all, good for cannabis lover.
 
They didn't really free the herb from the shackles of prohibition. Nobody will go to jail but the system is garbage. It's completely separated from the medical program, but what they've been doing lately is randomly pulling people over on their way to work to see if they are high.

It would take me like 3 weeks of quitting which would kill me by my own psychosis, to get down to the legal limit and I just got a car for an unreal deal. Seems too good to be true but it isn't, really nice buy but if they are doing these saliva tests on medical patients they can go fuck themselves.

Since legalization there has been less access to weed, longer waiting times to receive weed, the inability to see the weed before spending insane amounts of money on it, this drug testing nonsense that could result in something similar to a dui I'm pretty sure, and overall I feel less secure as a chronic stoner. There is no longer a nearby dispensary either that was really great. It is almost like they took so long to legalize in order to fuck over the heaviest stoners who actually need weed. I would only ever use it to grow.

Just my opinion I think it's bullshit but at least people are not being thrown into cages for it. I guess maybe there will continue to be exports.
 
ShroomySatori said:
They didn't really free the herb from the shackles of prohibition.
Click to expand...

I can't tell you how aggravating ordering mail order cannabis in Canada was. The post office were being dinks and are trying to throw monkey wrenches in the mail order legalization. I had to go back 3 times with all kinds of identification and then logged a complaint against the post office in Shoppers Drug Mart. Then they gave the package over. You can not buy it in a store in Ontario until God knows when. All kinds of red tape. It is easier to stay out of the legal system to get cannabis because they screw this up with bureaucracy. My first order I had to get some control freak postal worker in trouble because he would not release the package to me.

Keep up the resistance Canada, the dam has broken and cannabis will flow in North America freely soon. I never tried a legal US state. But my wife has MM card for NY which is a total joke. (Maintaining a residence in Canada and NY) But easier to get off of friends than any legal way.
 
What i don't get is if this is just legalisation for everyone or just medical marijuana legalisation. I went to school in Winnipeg, i wouldn't mind going back if i could pick up
-G
 
When it was legalized it felt like it was made illegal. Medical patients are very concerned. Been smokin weed 15 years, smoked who knows how many pounds. Never once a problem with the law, now as an adult I am very much concerned. It was a hustle and one of the dumbest things I've witnessed in my whole entire life. How did they come up with shit that stupid.
 
ShroomySatori said:
When it was legalized it felt like it was made illegal.
Click to expand...

Exactly! Up until recently it was de facto legal, but all of a sudden dozens of small municipalities are voting insane bylaws against smoking weed in public, just because they can rake in revenues from it. Then you have landlord associations who have succeeded in adding a no-cannabis clause to leases. Who do you think will pay the price? People with low income, as usual.

In Quebec growing at home is not allowed by legislation (brewing beer at home is totally fine), and the dumbass right-wing government that was just sworn in arbitrarily decides the legal age for cannabis is 21.
It's a goddamn plant! Honestly, who in the past ever gave a fuck about precise THC levels? If a strain got you too high, you used less, end of story.

It's nowhere near comparable to distilling alcohol (which yes, if done improperly, can be deadly -- see prohibition era), but that's how they're treating it, hence the in-fucking-sane childproof packaging. Ever seen childproof caps on whiskey or vodka bottles? Me neither.



Anyway, the shortages are just laughable. I'll stick with my dealer, thank you very much.
 
This is leg for recreational use, just like alcohol. So yes, for everyone over age 18, but each province controls age minimums. Alberta, for example, is going with the federal age 18, while most, if not the rest of the provinces are using age 19. You will not need a prescription to purchase. I find it crazy that in BC, home of bud, only ONE government approved store exists. Compare that with the Texas of Canada (Alberta) and its over 20 stores; strange. We made the market, produced the best strains, perfected and competed on a global level, and now it feels like we’re being choked out.
More stores will come online in the coming months, but a bit of a bungle, as many are sent scrambling back to the black or grey markets.
 
blistersinthedark said:
It's nowhere near comparable to distilling alcohol (which yes, if done improperly, can be deadly -- see prohibition era), but that's how they're treating it, hence the in-fucking-sane childproof packaging. Ever seen childproof caps on whiskey or vodka bottles? Me neither.



Anyway, the shortages are just laughable. I'll stick with my dealer, thank you very much.
Click to expand...

The child proof containers are a degree of insanity I won't ever be able to understand. They may as well be labelled 'arthritis proof'. No child proof caps on pre rolls but both ends of the joint package have a security seal.


Patients who were with the MMAR/MMPR/ACMPR could have easily told you that there would be shortages. When provincial wholesalers (who can only purchase in bulk from licensed producers) aren't getting what they ordered, the stores won't either. I would imagine a province using it's notwithstanding clause to declare a provincially accepted source of Cannabis. might as well incorporate the black market supply into the legal market. Health Canada approval takes too long.

Tom
 
My 2 cents coming from a state that's been dealing with similar issues. It sucks, but the intro to legalization is rough and usually weighted against users, smaller producers, and business coming into the fold. However, the problems slowly get better as regulators become less adverse to cannabis and regulations are changed/created/removed. There are problems because this is new territory and understandably they want to take it slow and avoid any unforeseen issues.

In short, I think things will get better. We are talking about cannabis in an entirely new way and on a whole new scale. People (consumers) will slowly make things work for them. The over-regulation we are seeing now is disliked by almost every cannabis user and grower. They will fight for changes and while it will take time, but we will see relaxing regulations. Here in CA many counties tried to ban growing and sales, but people are fighting it and making some pretty good strides. Also the taxes have been decried constantly and talks have been put in place to make the system more friendly to end-users and producers.
 
blisters agreed. Similar problems here, it's completely insane.

I've been obnoxiously smoking weed publicly everywhere anywhere I want for 15 years. Had massive amounts on me for personal use, never had a problem with the law smoking all those bongs and dabs. Always had multiple supplies too. Car permanently reeked of burnt weed back then. I hit up a past dealer today and yeah at least I have that because this is nonsense. Especially with how unreliable the postal service is, it's almost insulting how they did this it's so stupid.

It's a fucking plant. How can it create such hysteria, I mean, honestly, legalize everything. If benzos and heroin were legal and accepted as problems people need to work through like perhaps anxiety or depression, which come to think of it are totally stigmatized too, a lot more people would be alive.

It's a fucking plant. I'm smoking bong resin tonight to try and save some of my small stash. I liked having a dispensary with nice people there. I don't want to pay in advance for something I don't know what will be or when I will get it. Anyways, hopefully I get linked up with a good old dealer soon but it's just so fucking inconvenient compared to how things were before they made everything right in the world for potheads. And yeah they are totally targeting potheads almost to the point of abuse to get money from them out of taxes and shit. They obviously have some sort of secret agenda, alcohol and cigarettes are infinitely worse and I hate being seen differently at all for smoking weed. Fuck this place nothing has changed.
 
Yeah right, the country is dry.

Our government say we legalized for three reasons:
1. To reduce access of cannabis to minors (under 18)
2. To reduce funding criminal orgs generated by black market cannabis flow
3. To ensure the safety and quality of the product to protect consumers

If they HAD really prepared, by listening to WA and CO or other states’ experiences, they may have been more prepared for the big day and NOT had supply issues, or at least to the flailing degree they are experiencing now.

I agree, though, that these will iron out and get smooth eventually. It is just ironic and funny how our gov’s implementation is not able to adress the black market yet.
But hey, it is finally here and we can make the best of it and help shape it along.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top