Dear Minister,
Please accept my heartfelt congratulations on your appointment as our new justice minister. I have confidence that our country will improve as a result. Sunny ways will bring sunny days.
Part of your mandate is to legalize cannabis. Please accept my input on this very important topic. Discussion has centered on using Colorado as our model. We can do better.
First, we need to cast off our old paradigms.
Cannabis is expensive.
Cannabis is dangerous.
Cannabis requires strict controls.
None of these are true. We must banish fear and prejudice and base our decisions on logic and science.
Cannabis is expensive. Cannabis is actually cheap to produce. It’s a plant, after all. We need to stop growing it in warehouses. One goal of legalization is to eliminate the black market. This will only happen when the price of cannabis is so low that today’s profits disappear. Legal markets are charging black market prices today. This is not right. The price of cannabis needs to be lower.
What is a fair price? A typical prescription under the medical regulations is three grams a day. At ten dollars a gram, that’s thirty dollars a day. Plus GST. That’s a thousand dollars a month. That’s ridiculous.
A self producer can grow their own product indoors for less than a dollar a gram. Organized crime can do the same, even after paying for overhead. (They get their electricity free.) Therefore cannabis needs to cost less than a dollar a gram in order to eliminate the black market.
Rather than keeping the price of cannabis artificially high, let us focus instead on value added activities that create employment and benefit the economy. The lower the cost of the product, the more wealth will be created.
We have two choices going forward. We can continue to apply the failed model of prohibition – or we can create a new and better model. We can use this product to create new industries that offer greater rewards than selling the plant itself. Value added activities will increase tremendously when the cost of raw materials is low.
Commercial farming can produce quality cannabis for two or three cents a gram. Seems too cheap, right? Two cents a gram is twenty thousand dollars a tonne! Ask any farmer in the country if he wants to grow a plant that can bring in twenty thousand dollars a tonne and I think I know the answer. Clear the fields! Plant the cannabis!
Everyone needs to make a profit producing, processing, packaging, distributing and selling. Each of these activities will generate tax revenue. Value added activities will bring more taxes as production becomes cheaper. New uses will be found and new industries will develop. The economy will grow.
The cost of cannabis should include no more taxes than any other product. A sin tax like alcohol and tobacco carry is not appropriate. Those are harmful products; cannabis is not. Cannabis is actually a wellness product; we prescribe it as medicine. However, I recognize reality. There will be controls. There will be taxes. It is our duty as consumers to ensure these taxes and regulations are minimized.
We need a free market to keep prices low. Otherwise, the black market will stick around like it has in Colorado. So what’s a fair price? A retail price around fifty cents a gram seems reasonable. A prescription for three grams will then cost less than two dollars a day. Recreational use will be affordable as well, which will reduce alcohol and tobacco use.
We also need to guarantee the right to grow our own. This will help to keep prices low and everyone honest. Let’s jump right to the logical conclusion that any limit on the number of plants for home growing is pointless when there is no black market. Encourage people to grow outdoors to help the environment. Many people will grow more than they need. So what? Remember, there will be no more black market. It will make a nice Christmas present.
Cannabis is dangerous. No, it’s not. There has never been a recorded case of death due to overdose. There has never been a recorded case of death due to long term use. The establishment spent the last seventy-five years of prohibition trying to pin the tail on this donkey and failed.
Cannabis does not cause a drop in IQ. Cannabis does not cause schizophrenia. Cannabis does not impair brain development. Cannabis does not increase traffic deaths. Cannabis is not a gateway drug; it is actually a potential treatment for addiction.
We need to ensure that everyone gets a chance to participate in the cannabis economy. Don’t shut anyone out by making regulations that favour big business. Increased controls and complicated compliance requirements will penalize the small businessman. Strive for a level playing field.
Cannabis is not really a drug at all. It’s an herb. The pharmaceutical companies have no ownership and we need to keep it that way. People have been consuming this stuff for thousands of years. It seems to me that any real problems would be obvious by now. I admit, people will become habituated to cannabis like they become habituated to many less healthy alternatives. However, cannabis is not physically addicting. It cannot be compared to alcohol and tobacco.
Cannabis requires strict controls. Why? This is drug war thinking. Cannabis is an herb which is safer than most over the counter products sold today. We need to regulate the production of cannabis for human consumption the same way we regulate the production of food for human consumption. This ensures public safety and does not add a huge factor to our cost of food. It is reasonable and beneficial.
We don’t need to apply pharmaceutical standards to the growth and production of flowering buds for human consumption. Food standards will do. The same is true for edibles. A higher standard should be applied to the manufacture of extracts, the same as for over the counter medications today. Keep cost down by applying reasonable methods and standards. Minimize new regulations.
We need to ensure that everyone gets a chance to participate in the cannabis economy. Don’t shut anyone out by making regulations that favour big business. Increased controls and complicated compliance requirements will penalize the small businessman. Strive for a level playing field.
We have two choices going forward. We can continue to apply the failed model of prohibition – or we can create a new and better model. We can use this product to create new industries that offer greater rewards than selling the plant itself. Value added activities will increase tremendously when the cost of raw materials is low.
Today we dole out tiny quantities of a highly regulated product at a ridiculous cost and effort. Tomorrow we must ensure this product is readily available to all at an affordable price.
Classes of Use:
There will be three classes of use as we go forward. These are medical, recreational and industrial. Here are the limits that I propose.
Medical users will require a prescription to obtain benefits. Benefits will include tax exemptions as well as coverage under insurance plans. Wellness users will be able to purchase a variety of non-prescription products such as topical lotions and over the counter remedies of all kinds. A prescription will not be required although some of these products may be prescribed to obtain plan coverage.
Recreational and medical users will be able to access a variety of products sold in a variety of settings. All forms of extract will be permitted. Vapour lounges and cannabis cafes will cater to those who want a place to consume their products in comfort. These locations will also sell retail products, much as liquor is sold today.
Tempting as it may be, don’t include cannabis under the tobacco regulations. There is no evidence that cannabis smoke is harmful. Besides, I don’t want to stand out there with the cigarette smokers. That’s not healthy! Consumers will be allowed to self produce their own supply. Cooperatives may be established so that growers can pool their resources.
Dedicated stores will exist, selling product and accessories. Pre-packaged products will be sold at gas stations and convenience stores, much as cigarettes are sold today. Is selling it at the depanneur going too far? Of course not; tobacco is sold there and tobacco is much more harmful. Don’t forget that cannabis will be legal. To buy. To possess. And to consume. Make it convenient. The Vancouver model is already more successful than the Colorado model. Prices at the dispensaries are lower and cannabis cafes are allowed.
Industrial users will grow and process the plant. Hemp and cannabis cultivation will be no more regulated than canola is today. Market forces will rule with minimal regulation. All varieties of cannabis will be grown outdoors. Some cannabis will be grown in greenhouses much as tomatoes and peppers are grown today. Processing will create a multitude of industries in both psychoactive and non-psychoactive applications. Hemp will again become an important agricultural product with many uses.
Interim measures:
Immediately suspend any convictions for possession until new legislation has passed. Stop pursuing the cultivation and production of cannabis. The war is over. Implement new regulations as quickly as possible to start winding down the black market and winding up the legal one. Recognize that demand will be satisfied in the interim. Many operators who are illegal today will become the entrepreneurs of tomorrow under the new regulations.
Please accept my recommendations as sincere and well intended. I wish you tremendous success with your mandate. Remember to keep it simple. Have no fear. And plan for success. Let me know if I can help in any way.
Sincerely,
Peter Jackson
Calgary, Alberta
