VIANARCHRIS
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http://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/cooper-british-columbia-shows-us-what-happens-when-we-go-to-pot
I think this guy was drunk when he wrote this....He didn't like his steak, so the waiter was stoned. The manager said it was cooked fine...he was stoned too. The opiate overdoses are a result of BC's lax enforcement of cannabis laws? Barry Cooper definitely in the running for " Idiot of the Year".
Barry Cooper
More from Barry Cooper
Published on: January 4, 2017 | Last Updated: January 4, 2017 3:00 AM MST
Barry Cooper Calgary Herald
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Visiting British Columbia is like going to a foreign land without using your passport.
Having spent most of my early life there, it’s always fun to see how much has changed. When I was a kid, for example, there was a major moral panic over marijuana use and another about Vancouver being the heroin gateway to North America.
The drug scene today is the opposite of a moral panic. It’s more a matter of everyday complacency. With pot soon to be legal across the country, B.C. provides a glimpse of our future. Indeed, if you wander through B.C. today, as we did over the Christmas break, more or less normal Albertans might be forgiven for thinking that the whole province is stoned.
Our first evidence came at a steak joint in Abbotsford. The waiter looked puzzled when I asked for steak sauce. He first brought mustard to the table, then ketchup. Our daughter, more familiar with such behaviour than her parents, stated, matter-of-factly, “the guy is stoned.”
The steak, ordered rare, was grey. I pointed this out to the waiter, who got the manager. “This steak is cooked just right,” the manager announced. He was stoned, too.
B.C. has long had a serious relationship with pot. Years ago, “B.C. bud” was in demand all along the West Coast, from Juneau to San Diego. But then hydroponics and the invention of medical marijuana introduced a whole new set of options.
In the last year, Vancouver pot entrepreneurs have expanded their operations with the usual unintended and comic political effects. Vancouver city council voted against allowing grocery stores to sell wine because it was said to be unhealthy. Yet, in a city that is poorly served with wine outlets, at least compared to Calgary, there are dozens of illegal pot dispensaries.
These are not places you need a prescription to purchase weed. They are retail stores advertising what’s in stock and the effects that, say, Bruce Banner No. 3 or Bubba Kush have on their clients.
Evidently, the Vancouver police don’t bother to enforce what is still Canadian law. Nevertheless, the municipality demanded these retail outlets purchase expensive business licences. Or at least it tries to do so. Several pot marts have discovered that they can get along quite well without a licence. And they refuse to pay when they are fined for operating without one.
There is also a gloomy side to the drug scene in B.C. By mid-December, more than 750 persons had died from drug overdoses, mostly from opioids. By normal standards, that would be an epidemic. Back in 2003, 44 persons died from SARS in the whole country and it was deemed an epidemic. In November alone, 128 people in B.C. died from drugs.
Even pets have suffered. A touching story in the Victoria paper told of Chico the pug pup, who ate opioid-laced scraps while walking in Mount Douglas Park. At first, the veterinarian, Helen Rae, thought Chico had just swallowed some pot. But then she treated the dog with two doses of naloxone, an opioid-reversing medication usually used on humans who overdose on fentanyl.
Her clinic was then repeated contacted by “sketchy-sounding people,” as Rae called them, asking about fentanyl, not the antidote.
Another major story told of misuse of the 911 emergency number. One caller wanted advice on dealing with a spider in his bathtub. Another couldn’t get his electric razor to turn off. A third wanted help in getting his toy drone out of a tree.
It was unclear whether these emergencies involved pot or just stupidity.
Barry Cooper teaches political science at the University of Calgary.
I think this guy was drunk when he wrote this....He didn't like his steak, so the waiter was stoned. The manager said it was cooked fine...he was stoned too. The opiate overdoses are a result of BC's lax enforcement of cannabis laws? Barry Cooper definitely in the running for " Idiot of the Year".
Barry CooperMore from Barry Cooper
Published on: January 4, 2017 | Last Updated: January 4, 2017 3:00 AM MST
Barry Cooper Calgary Herald
Share Adjust Comment Print
Visiting British Columbia is like going to a foreign land without using your passport.
Having spent most of my early life there, it’s always fun to see how much has changed. When I was a kid, for example, there was a major moral panic over marijuana use and another about Vancouver being the heroin gateway to North America.
The drug scene today is the opposite of a moral panic. It’s more a matter of everyday complacency. With pot soon to be legal across the country, B.C. provides a glimpse of our future. Indeed, if you wander through B.C. today, as we did over the Christmas break, more or less normal Albertans might be forgiven for thinking that the whole province is stoned.
Our first evidence came at a steak joint in Abbotsford. The waiter looked puzzled when I asked for steak sauce. He first brought mustard to the table, then ketchup. Our daughter, more familiar with such behaviour than her parents, stated, matter-of-factly, “the guy is stoned.”
The steak, ordered rare, was grey. I pointed this out to the waiter, who got the manager. “This steak is cooked just right,” the manager announced. He was stoned, too.
B.C. has long had a serious relationship with pot. Years ago, “B.C. bud” was in demand all along the West Coast, from Juneau to San Diego. But then hydroponics and the invention of medical marijuana introduced a whole new set of options.
In the last year, Vancouver pot entrepreneurs have expanded their operations with the usual unintended and comic political effects. Vancouver city council voted against allowing grocery stores to sell wine because it was said to be unhealthy. Yet, in a city that is poorly served with wine outlets, at least compared to Calgary, there are dozens of illegal pot dispensaries.
These are not places you need a prescription to purchase weed. They are retail stores advertising what’s in stock and the effects that, say, Bruce Banner No. 3 or Bubba Kush have on their clients.
Evidently, the Vancouver police don’t bother to enforce what is still Canadian law. Nevertheless, the municipality demanded these retail outlets purchase expensive business licences. Or at least it tries to do so. Several pot marts have discovered that they can get along quite well without a licence. And they refuse to pay when they are fined for operating without one.
There is also a gloomy side to the drug scene in B.C. By mid-December, more than 750 persons had died from drug overdoses, mostly from opioids. By normal standards, that would be an epidemic. Back in 2003, 44 persons died from SARS in the whole country and it was deemed an epidemic. In November alone, 128 people in B.C. died from drugs.
Even pets have suffered. A touching story in the Victoria paper told of Chico the pug pup, who ate opioid-laced scraps while walking in Mount Douglas Park. At first, the veterinarian, Helen Rae, thought Chico had just swallowed some pot. But then she treated the dog with two doses of naloxone, an opioid-reversing medication usually used on humans who overdose on fentanyl.
Her clinic was then repeated contacted by “sketchy-sounding people,” as Rae called them, asking about fentanyl, not the antidote.
Another major story told of misuse of the 911 emergency number. One caller wanted advice on dealing with a spider in his bathtub. Another couldn’t get his electric razor to turn off. A third wanted help in getting his toy drone out of a tree.
It was unclear whether these emergencies involved pot or just stupidity.
Barry Cooper teaches political science at the University of Calgary.
