Recently there’s been a lot of ink spilled over the imminent legalization of marijuana in Canada. Rick Salutin’s recent column in the Toronto Star, titled “Pot laws looked like they’d never change — Then WHAM”, seems particularly applicable to the not-too-dissimilar challenges around raw milk legalization:
“Deep social change happens so slowly it looks like nothing is happening. Not just over years but decades, maybe longer. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. Then WHAM. The imminent legalization of (nonmedical) marijuana is a perfect example. Its perfectness even has a generational, father to son, symmetry.
Back in 1969 the Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau appointed a royal commission to recommend policy on marijuana. Its head was a future Supreme Court justice. They heard hundreds of witnesses, including John Lennon, and in 1973 reported. Two of the three members recommended decriminalization for possession and cultivation; the third supported legalization. No one suggested keeping it criminal. It must have been what Trudeau wanted. You always select people knowing what they’ll give you. Then nothing nothing nothing — till the son. Continue reading
The Bovine 