blistersinthedark
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2013
- Messages
- 403
TBH the overpackaging is fucking horrific. The law needs to be changed to allow bulk sales ASAP.
TBH the overpackaging is fucking horrific. The law needs to be changed to allow bulk sales ASAP.
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.
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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.
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.
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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."
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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.
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.
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.
They didn't really free the herb from the shackles of prohibition.
When it was legalized it felt like it was made illegal.
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.