I warned for years about cannabis "legalization" being code for government control, corporate monopoly, and destruction of the culture and market. In 2018, Canada lead the world by "legalizing" cannabis after generations of draconian prohibition. In 2020, we see just how right I was.
Amnesty
Amnesty is legal forgiveness. For generations, Canadians were harassed, arrested, dragged through the court system, and imprisoned for peacefully growing, selling, and using cannabis. "Legalization" was going to change all that, and many activists worked for decades to bring it about.
Amnesty for users was always promised as an obvious part of legalization. If something is legal, why would we put people in jail for doing it, and why would we keep innocent people in jail that had been put there under the old laws? It seemed inevitable that tens of thousands of peaceful productive members of society would be freed to rejoin their families and communities.
In reality, the government created a massive program to oversee the process, and 2 years later, only 257 people have been granted amnesty! The program promised at least 10000 rapid full pardons. People are rotting in prison for a non-crime, and nobody seems to be in a hurry to grant their freedom! Not to mention thousands being dragged through expensive and clogged courts.
If it's not bad enough, they're still arresting and imprisoning MORE peaceful people for cannabis "crimes" - far more than the 257 they're (partially) releasing!
What's worse, the applicants had to pay large fees in order to get the complex process started, as well as file several documents and jump through a lot of hoops. People who had ANY other crime than cannabis were declined.
And the 257 who were successful only managed in having their crime reduced to a "record suspension", which just means that the punishment is dropped. The supposed "crime" is not expunged, removed, or cancelled in any way!
Hypocrisy
The Canadian government is selling cannabis (horrible quality and overpriced) to the public, but continues to put citizens in jail for growing or transacting. That's hypocrisy, which isn't just wrong, it undermines whatever legitimacy government may have. "Do as I say, not as I do" is a horrible way to lead people.
Our government (under Trudeau's Liberals) has used laws to corner the market, eliminating most competition, so they can produce terrible cannabis, with supply issues, at 5 times the free market price, and use police and prisons to maintain a monopoly! They're making billions of dollars and using those funds to close dispensaries and arrest people for cannabis. They even violently raided and shut a peaceful weekly cannabis farmers market to make way for their phony "legalization". That's hypocrisy at the highest level, and it's a crime against the people!
What we wanted all along was DECRIMINALIZATION! The end of prohibition! Not more laws, more government, more control, more taxes, and more prison!
"Legalization" is not freedom, and is not a step in the right direction. Do NOT support "legalization" in your country or state. Demand decrim, and settle for nothing less. Canada is proof that legalization is a lie and the promise of amnesty was just another part of that lie.
I knew years beforehand that legalization isn't going to bring us freedom. Now, I'm doing everything I can to draw attention to its collosal failure and hypocrisy, to try and reduce the harm it does to millions of individuals, and to society.
DRutter
