Rivalry against cannabis legalization in Canada
To every prospect there are two sides. A campaign is similar to a coin. When it’s raised one side tries to suppress the other. Any campaign to cannabis legalization has a bulk of supporters and oppositions everywhere.
In Canada, there is a concrete political rebellion to cannabis in the form of a party called Conservatives, who lost the federal election to Liberals and elected the Former Health Minister Rona Ambrose as the interim leader. This party stands as an official opposition to the pro-cannabis ruling party. Ambrose has continued to be a candid supporter of cannabis prohibition policy and her party has taken several steps to extend its position and attack the cannabis supporters.
Ad-attack
Conservatives along with Health Canada invested $7.5 million in an ad campaign to substantiate their claim that marijuana lowers people’s IQ and adversely alters their brains. Irony is this campaign had no endorsement from Canadian Medical Association, The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada because of its forged political message. This ad is also restricted on youtube now.
Twitter attack
Cannabis has been a topic of hot political debate even on social network including twitter where the Conservatives attacked the Liberals for their stance on cannabis for which the supporters retaliated with the tweet “Minister Ambrose suffers from a severe case of drug policy abuse” followed by a striking “LegaliseIt” hashtag.
Attacking the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of Canada passed a unanimous decision of including cannabis oils, extracts and edibles as a part of marijuana medical treatment when they discovered that patients may encounter health risks and ineffective reactions to smoke inhalation. Still the daunting opposition rebuked the court as they believed that marijuana has never gone through approval process at Health Canada for which rigorous clinical trials are required along with scientific evidences lacking at both the sides. They even depreciated marijuana use by calling this ruling a reason behind loss in public health and safety ground.
Cop attack on the gray market
April 2015 was a dark time for the gray market dispensaries in Vancouver that sold cannabis illegally. Ambrose launched a prohibition enforcement condemning the council’s decisions and called on the police to make this move. They took a firm stand on unreliable information that suggested the risks of mental health issues over youth. In this process marijuana was called an inducer of schizophrenia and psychosis. They attacked the dispensaries because medical experts predicted that marijuana cookies and candies will be made more accessible to the youth if the trend of growing marijuana use continues.
Clearly, the condemnation has been a political play and not an educational campaign. There are no scientific reasons to prove that marijuana pose any mental health threat to the people consuming it. These steps are not embraced by any evidences and they are obviously extraneous.
