Analyzing the Legalization of Marijuana in Canada: Pros and Cons

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of the legalization of marijuana in Canada. It begins with a historical overview, tracing the evolution of cannabis laws from prohibition to the implementation of the Cannabis Act in 2018. The essay then delves into the positive impacts of legalization, such as increased tax revenue, the creation of new economic opportunities for farmers, and the potential for research advancements. Conversely, it also addresses the negative aspects, including potential international political repercussions, public health concerns, and the risk of increased addiction. Furthermore, the essay examines the societal impacts of legalization, considering its effects on the tourism industry and the challenges posed to law enforcement. The essay concludes by summarizing the key arguments and offering recommendations to mitigate the negative consequences of legalization.

Political Science

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Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
History of Legalisation related to marijuana in Canada...................................................................1
Positive and negative aspect of the use of Marijuana in country.....................................................2
Positive about marijuana legalisation in Canada.............................................................................2
Recommendations about the things to take care after the legalisation.............................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References.......................................................................................................................................7

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INTRODUCTION
Marijuana legalisation is not a taboo but a reality. Marijuana also known by the
name Cannabis is considered as a psychoactive drug obtained from the Cannabis plant
and is used for recreational and medical uses. This is illegal in most parts of the world
as it contains tetrahydrocannabinol which is highly psychoactive. It is used by
vaporising or smoking (Downer, Cooper and Faseruk, 2018, 2158-3625). Cannabis
effect both physical and mental state by giving high feelings, high mood, and change
in perception as well as enhances appetite. The effect of the Marijuana can be felt
within a minutes when taken in the form of smoke while it takes approx. half or an
hour to effect when eaten or cooked (Watson, and Erickson, 2018, 1-5). There are
various short and long terms effects of taking marijuana. Short term effects includes
dry mouth, short-term memory, feeling anxiety or paranoia, red eyes and impaired
motor skills. Long term impacts involve decreased mental ability, behavioural
problems in the children if the mothers take it at the time of pregnancy, addiction of
extreme level etc.
In spite of its ban in the international market, it was legalised in the Canada for
medicinal purposes since 2001. Recently the federal Cannabis Act came into existence
on 17 October, 2018 and made Canada only the second country to actually legalise
marijuana for the recreational purposes. Legalisation will allow the government to
collect taxes on legal production of marijuana. This report highlights the various
aspects of the legalisation of Marijuana. It also elaborates about the positive and
negative side of this legalisation.

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History of Legalisation related to marijuana in Canada
Cannabis was banned in the country from 1923 till 2001 when it was legalised
for taking regulated use of these as a medicine. This was made legalised under the
conditions stated in the Marihuana for Medical purposes Regulations, later superseded
by the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purpose Regulations instated by Health Canada
(Karbakhsh, Smith and Pike, 2018, 1-4). The grains, seed, and fibre production was
granted under licence by Health Canada. The liberal party of Canada made the
promise to legalise marijuana for the recreational purpose in the federal elections of
2015.
On October 17, 2018, the federal Cannabis Act came into existence legalising
the use of Cannabis for the recreational purposes. The new law has been enacted to
strengthen the punishments for the people who would be convicted of either supplying
marijuana to under age or impairments while driving a motor vehicle. This law was
passed by the House of Commons of Canada in the November 2017 under the BillC-
45, Cannabis Act. It passed second reading on March 22, 2018, in the Senate of
Canada. On June 18, 2018 bill was passed in the house.
Positive and negative aspect of the use of Marijuana in country
This essay will argue that Marijuana legalisation will have what kind of effect
on different aspects of the living in the society. After its legalisation in the country,
there are many debates going on in different parts of the world about the positive and
negative side of its use. Since after legalisation it will be sold as a major commodity in
the open market and hence it would easier for the people to have access to it. It would
have many health issues and would impact the health determinants of the country
(Schluttenhofer, 2018, 460-460).

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Positive about marijuana legalisation in Canada
Marijuana has been used in different parts of the world as a medicine hence its
legalisation in Canada will have some positive effects. Since marijuana was sold in the
market of Canada previously also but through illegal means. Legalisation of marijuana
will just help the government to come in the formal market. This formalisation of the
illegal business has reduced the problems related to law and order conditions. This
legalisation of business has increased the chances of marijuana farmers to sell their
products in more open market. It will be effective in creating more opportunities in the
farming sector. This will also increase the numbers of farmers that can grow cannabis.
Farmers from Canada will earn more as it will also help them to export Cannabis for
the purpose of medicine to other countries (Cockburn, 2018). Legalisation of
marijuana will also increase the trade share of Canada in the countries where it is used
for different medicinal purposes. It will help the government to collect both taxes
from both internal and external business. This will help in increasing the tax base.
Legalisation was very much essential in the time when its recreational and
medical use was increasing day by day. National banks were not giving loans to
farmers of marijuana because the business was illegal (Volkow, et al. 2014, 2219-
2227). This reluctance towards not working with this industry was because of drug’s
federal legal standing. Most of the transactions in this field were done in cash because
of its illegal nature of business. At the same time there was limited growth in the
industry due to the lack of credit lines. This was also because the warehouses or the
dispensaries were at high risk of getting robbed (Ghosh, et al. 2018).
At the same time it was not easy to audit any firm associated with this industry.
Lack of auditing was one of the major reasons why banks stayed away from this
industry. After legalisation immediately banks immediately offered loans to

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companies. For example Bank of Montreal immediately offered a credit line worth
$200 million to the firm Aurora Cannabis. It is one of the largest marijuana companies
in Canada. More such companies will emerge in the country and will become capable
enough to add to the financial condition of the country. Someday this might help
Canada in becoming marijuana capital of the world. It will also help researchers to
easily carry out different researches on the use of Cannabis for other purposes (Pacula,
et al. 2014, 1021-1028). Previously there was no open research due to lot of legality
problems involved. Open research will help to find out different aspects associated
with the use of marijuana.
Legalisation will also help the firm in finding the labourers which was not easy
previously as nobody wanted to get attached with the industry that was illegal (Ghosh,
et al. 2016, 21-27). This will also help to tackle the black money which is highly used
in the growing and selling of the Marijuana. This is because due to legalisation of the
business, all the money that was used through illegal means will not able to come into
the industry. If any kind of investment is made in the industry now it will be through
proper means and most important the industry itself will not require taking money
from other sources rather they can asks banks for finance.
A very different argument is also given that legalisation of marijuana will also
enhance its use for the recreational purposes. This might have a positive impact on the
tourism sector as people might get attracted to the places that serve Marijuana
(Akhigbe, et al. 2018). The highest numbers of people can be from the neighbouring
country USA as this drug is banned in their country. It will also benefit the
government in ensuring that the drugs are not supplied to the people that are underage
as strong and more diversified law will be enforced in the country.

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Previously the law for such acts were not too strong and lacked support of the
local people. After legalisation of Marijuana people could easily sell and buy the
products from the companies and hence they do not have to choose illegal routes for
the trade. It also strengthens the power of regional authorities to ensure that the people
do not use it at public places or vehicles (Tashkin, 2013, 239-247).
Negative side of legalisation of marijuana in Canada
The other side of the story suggests that the legalisation of marijuana will have
several negative impacts also. This can be understood by the fact that International
market is still not ready for such legalisations. By doing this, Canada has actually
violated different kinds of international drug policy treaties. The treaties prohibit the
legalisation of illicit drugs for the recreational purposes. This will degrade the image
of Canada in the international market. They might receive more pressure from the
international community to take back the law (Choo, et al. 2014, 160-166). This is
because people or activists in other countries will also start to demand for the
legalisation of the same product in other parts of the world. This will create
international political situations. They are more chances that drug mafias finds Canada
as a safe haven for doing their business.
In the long term, this can cause the situation where people will get addicted to
this drug. Open sale in the market will increase its numbers of customers. This will
have long term effect of the health conditions of people living in Canada. They
chances or probability that marijuana will reach to people under restricted age limit
increases in the coming time. There are more chances that people can get addicted to
this drug and might waste lot of their money on purchasing. This was one of the major
reasons why countries have banned the use of marijuana for such a long time

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(Wilkinson, et al. 2016, 453-466). Illustration of this can be seen in the fact that only
on the first day of its legalisation so many customers came for purchase that in most of
the shops it becomes out of stock. In the years to come number of customers is going
to increase that too when the lifestyle is going to change.
It is estimated that bars, pubs and hotels are going to serve marijuana as an
additional segment. Since it is a highly profitable business hence it might replace the
other types of crops as farmers earning will be more in the case of production of
Cannabis. This might create some other financial problems as Canada will have to
import other crops in bulk. Most severe effect is going to be on the cotton industry and
the alcohol industry. Alcohol industry is going to get affected in two ways first the
production the grapes and other ingredients is going to get decreased as it is difficult
to manage the grape farming while it is comparatively easier to do Cannabis farming
(Sevigny, Pacula and Heaton, 2014, 308-319). Second it might reduce the numbers of
Alcohol takers which is not beneficial for the Alcohol industry and their stakeholders
especially for the farmers.
Apart from this it can also create situations where the challenges in the daily
life might increase. For example police will have to make special punishments for the
people that drive after taking marijuana. Less bad Cannabis are used by the farmers
for the purposes like killing of mites, non-organic plant materials, mold etc. and they
are highly toxic hence it might affect the health conditions of the people. It is very
much critical in the case when there high standards is being set for maintaining the
health condition of the citizen (Hajizadeh, 2016, 453).
Health issues that can be generated by this change in the legalisation are long
term and can influence the health issues in daily users. It creates a problems related to

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toxicity levels. The risk of toxicity can create other health hazards as well as other
problems related to severe illness. Unintended exposure to children can lead to serious
problems in them at their growth level. High mortality and morbidity is attributed to
use of Cannabis, involving motor vehicle accidents, substance use disorders as well as
lung cancer (Richter and Levy, 2014, 399-401).
It is also increasing the occupational safety risks as drowsiness can be the
major reason where people can take bad and decisions. It is also to be noted that
negative mental health outcomes is very common in the people that are from the rural
areas as due to lack of administration in the rural areas people can get highly addicted
to illegal drugs. Apart from this if marijuana is smoked than it might create problems
related to respiratory health impacts. This is not only going to affect the person taking
the drugs but is also going to affect the health of other people in the family. If the
women take it in their pregnancy period, it might create health challenges in the
unborn babies (Sznitman and Zolotov, 2015, 20-29). In the long term it generates the
problems like impaired child or might affect their growth.
Recommendations about the things to take care after the legalisation
A challenge of the government has changed after the legalisation of the Cannabis
for the recreational purpose. It has created situations were governments will have to
ensure that it is not used at the excessive level and all the above mentioned negative
impacts can be reduced. For this it is crucial that some of the below mentioned steps
can be taken. They are as follows:
 Keeping child away from such substances will be very much essential so as to keep
the youth safe and protected. Since the research shows that the people who generate

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this habit at the early age shows the indications of mental health disorder at the later
stage of life (Wen, Hockenberry and Cummings, 2015, 64-80).
 Strengthening the laws and enforcement measures so as to punish the people that sells
and distributes the marijuana to the people that are underage. This law will also punish
the people that sell it without getting authorisation.
 Information and education will play a very important role in the management of
marijuana business. It will also play an important in the keeping it away from the
students and the people of young age. It will also be beneficial in the case of limiting
the use of Cannabis for recreational purpose (Nahas, 2013).
 Addiction treatment centres needs to be advanced along with mental health support
centres.
 Prohibit any kind of sponsorship and advertisements linked with sale of Cannabis.
This is crucial for the reducing its use openly and in an excess quantity. This will also
help in promoting certain other kind of farming products.
 The bottles or the packaging containing such products has to be labelled with the
warning signs depicting the ill effect of Cannabis. Such warnings must be given in
both instruction and pictorial forms (Pacula and Lundberg, 2013, 2).
 Different authority for drug regulation at the local levels needs to be created that will
check the problems that are arising at that level (Howden and Naughton, 2011, 87-92).
This will also involve assigning roles to the people for making sure that its business is
controlled.

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Conclusion
From the above based report, it can be concluded that Cannabis has been legalised in
Canada for the recreational purposes with certain kind of obligations. On October 7,
2018 bill was passed in the House of Commons so as to legalise the use of Marijuana
for the recreational purpose. It will improve the condition such as illegal farming and
selling of Cannabis. At the same time it will help the government to impose tax and
hence their earning could be increased. The companies that are dealing in such
business could easily get investments from authorised sources. On the negative side, it
might affect the production of other types of crops in the country. It is also going to
influence the health conditions of the people as well as it might also increase the
occupational safety risk. Government will have to increase the numbers of addiction
centres. They will also have to increase the knowledge of the people and ensure that
no promotion or sponsorships of such products do take place.

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