The Effects Of Drugs Legalization On Canada
On 17 October 2018, both medical and recreational use of cannabis was legalized for adults across all provinces in Canada. This news was reported all around the world and brought shock to many people including myself. Although many countries allow using cannabis for medical purposes only, Canada was the second nation in the world, after Uruguay, to formally authorize the recreational use of cannabis. However, the question remains whether it will really give positive impacts or negative impacts for the society.
Firstly, the major impact of the drugs legalization is the economy in Canada. Since the legalization allows for the government to put high tax on the legally produced cannabis, the government can collect more funds to promote welfare as well as to improve other areas such as education and social security. In addition, the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, made a high expectancy for entrepreneurs to figure out the way to make financial benefits from the legalization. In reality, his expectation has come partially true. According to Toronto Dominion Bank, the legalization of cannabis has produced over 8 billion CND just in the past few months.
Furthermore, the edible cannabis products will be available on 17 October 2019 across Canada. Some people might argue that it is unethical, but some scientific research showed that cannabis is rich in nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein, minerals and vitamins. By allowing the Canadian food industries to handle cannabis, it may cause even bigger economic growth in Canada as they will be able to enter a new field of business and get profits from wider range of customers.
However, there are some health concerns about taking cannabis. Many scientific and medical research have proven that inhalation of cannabis harms the brain and causes mental health problems including schizophrenia, depression and other psychiatric disorders. Regular intake of cannabis can also trigger physical problems such as issues in respiratory systems and lung cancers. For this reason, the legalization of cannabis may end up with more cannabis-related patients and criminal activities due to the abnormal behaviors of cannabis takers.
Furthermore, there will potentially be more safety issues due to the prolonged effects after use of cannabis. In some states in USA, the number of fatal traffic accidents doubled after legalizing the recreational use of cannabis. Although some Canadian authorities released guidelines that recommend cannabis users wait several hours before driving, I believe that more preventive acts should be reinforced by the government. For example, government can offer public some lectures explaining the appropriate use of cannabis or give penalties to drivers like how we deal with drunk drivers.
Some people might argue that more people will end up with psychosis if cannabis was illegal. This is because prohibition makes illegal drug stronger and more potent so that drug merchants can ship more product in a smaller space and sell it at a greater profit. In such situation, people would have limited choice of either not smoking cannabis at all or getting much heavy smoker than you would like to. People do not use drugs because they are legal or not. As long as there is a way to get the drugs, people would not stop smoking even if it is illegal. We can’t make cannabis go away, but we can make it safer by legalizing and regulating. If cannabis were legal, there would be more options for consumers and regulators could do to exercise control over them.
To conclude, cannabis has negative consequences for a sizable portion of the people who use it; it is not harmless. The best way to protect the society from its negative consequences seems to be legalization and regulation. Since Canada is one of the most developed countries in the world, it is important for them to structure an ideal society in Canada to lead other countries for creating a better world.
