# What happens when Canada decriminalizes pot?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 13, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037 "2003-05-13T20:15:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037/1 "2003-05-13T20:15:30Z")
I don’t know if there is a factual answer to this question at this time. Perhaps this is a debate, although maybe not a great one.
The legalization of marijuana is, of course, a favourite topic here at the SDMB. As you may or may not know, Canada is one the verge of making the possession of small amounts of pot, 15 grams or less (a tick over 1/2 oz.), a virtual non-issue. The new legislation could tabled in Parliament by the end of the week. [Story.](http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030513.wmari0513/BNStory/National/)
What is going to happen when this law is passed? Are users still going to have to go to their dealers to buy, or will Coffee Shops, ala Amsterdam, open up? Will the government try to control the sales like it does/did with alcohol? In Alberta, would it be up to private business like it is now with liquor?
I guess the question that I am really asking is this: It seems that the government has given thought to the legal aspects of marijuana possession, have they given any thought to the commercialization of it?
---
### Author:  [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2003, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037/2 "2003-05-13T20:32:01Z")
From what I understand…
It won’t be _legal_.
From your link:
> [@](#):
>
> The Prime Minister said after the cabinet meeting that the new bill means “modernizing the sentences.” It does not mean legalizing the use of marijuana, he said.
The best guess now is that the users will get it taken away from them and fined, just not charged with a criminal offense.
So to answer your question, no, you’re not going to be buying pot at the 7-11 anytime soon.
---
### Author:  [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037/3 "2003-05-13T22:08:10Z")
Well, it’s hard to say what the long-term effects will be. Maybe Canada will be like the Netherlands one day, if this particular measure is well-received by the voting public. I personally don’t think this measure will have any huge effect; Alaska used to be that way and it’s not like a mild half-moves toward drug decriminalization spread like wildfire to the lower 48.
Drug decrim- and legalization-advocates usually advocate measures which would be more sweeping and thus have the potential to have more effects (good or bad, depending on who you ask. The big alleged benefits of decriminalization are said to include
(a) making space in prisons for violent and major property criminals - too many beds being taken up by “victimless criminals”
(b) reducing the overall need for prisons, and the costs of society (both in budgetary terms and in wasted lives)
(c) ending the dependence of drug addicts upon criminal activity; illegal drug addiction creating a criminal underworld of dealers and users who often turned to “anything but victimless” crimes to support their habits and/or protect their territory.
There are others, but those are the ones I am thinking about. Are there a lot of marijuana addicts in Canada? Is there even a medical consensus about how addictive marijuana is? Some say “not at all” and other disagree. In any case, most people agree that marijuana is not responsible for either most of the drug addicts, or for the worst addicts (those most crime-prone, debilitated, brain-damaged, whatever).
Are Canadian robbers, killers, and wife-beaters being let go early to make room for cannibis offenders? I doubt it.
Are Canadian taxpayers being bled dry to pay for a huge prison-building program? Not that I’ve heard of.
All I’m saying is, I don’t think this measure is going to have huge effects one way or the other, except maybe that border towns will have more than their share of hairy Americans looking to smoke up. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2003, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037/4 "2003-05-13T22:49:07Z")
I _so_ don’t see how you got from de_criminalization_ of marijuana to the hedonistic smoking frenzy you describe. It’s kinda hard opening a business when your inventory consists of 15g of grass. Read the article: traffic is still illegal.
I think it’s a great idea. Getting a record for smoking a blunt has got to be one of the stupidest events involving causality ever. Hell, probably more people will be charged. How often is a cop going to haul someone in to jail for puffing a spliff? Now how many might write out a ticket for it? Lots more, I say.
I don’t really see this passing, actually. From the interviews with the relevant authorities south of the border that I’ve heard on CBC, there’s some people ready to put all their influence into messing up cross-border trade. Those in the U.S. have had to put up with [dumb drug ads](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=157328&highlight=drug+commercials) for a while, but it seems those in charge of them are so attached to their message that even this minor act is driving them nuts.
So in answer to your question: The only pot grown by the gov’t in Canada was for a trial run of medicinal purposes, and it bombed 'cause apparently a strung out hippie can run a grow better than Health Canada. Do not bring your bong on your next visit… do not expect to be asked “Do you want rolling papers with that?”. Just, sadly, no. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2003, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037/5 "2003-05-14T01:46:43Z")
The USA will have to invade to put a stop to your ice-pinko’s demon-weed peddling ways. 😉
---
### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2003, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037/6 "2003-05-14T02:42:06Z")
It’ll be a desparate last-minute measure, though. You are already succumbing to our wild Northern Ways. Even your money is starting to be [multi-coloured](http://www.moneyfactory.com/newmoney/)! 😃
---
### Author:  [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2003, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037/7 "2003-05-14T04:07:24Z")
I see the script already…an aerial shot, obviously of the northern border of the United States. And then, right above it, a menacing red (the red’ll be badly Photoshopped in, of course) country…
Menacing Narrator Voiceover
They say that it’s just pot. They say it can’t hurt you. That’s not true. Smoking marijuana makes you pregnant, makes you shoot your best friend, and now, worst of all, it makes you Canadian…
And the Camera pulls out to reveal the red is really part of the Canadian flag. Then, green replaces the red and the maple leaf is replaced by a pot leaf.
MNV
America. The Anti-Drug.
Flash Message From Annoying Anti-Drug Organization…
---
### Author:  [@drhess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drhess)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037/8 "2003-05-14T04:14:55Z")
Let’s blame Canada!
---
### Author:  [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2003, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037/9 "2003-05-14T04:50:07Z")
Cheech, Chong, Bob and Doug in _Beauty Dreams, Eh?_ ?
---
### Author:  [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2003, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037/10 "2003-05-14T11:47:31Z")
> [@](#):
>
> You are already succumbing to our wild Northern Ways. Even your money is starting to be multi-coloured!
NOOOOOOO!!! :eek:
---
### Author:  [@Fyodor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fyodor)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2003, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037/11 "2003-05-14T12:33:45Z")
In the news today, the Canadian Government is increasing sentences substantially for marijuana cultivation, to a 14 year max, which is a hefty sentence by Canadian standards.
---
### Author:  [@NutMagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutMagnet)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2003, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037/12 "2003-05-14T12:47:56Z")
Also in the news today,
Tommy Chong got a year in the slammer and $1/4 Mil fine for selling bongs and pipes! WTF?
[http://www.tommychong.com](http://www.tommychong.com)
[sub](Caution - Work unfriendly).[/sub]
---
### Author:  [@refusal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/refusal)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2003, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037/13 "2003-05-14T13:24:01Z")
In Amsterdam selling marijuana isn’t strictly legal, although it’s tolerated by the police. So a lot could depend on the attitude of the Canadian police and politicians. Reducing the seriousness of pot is likely a signal that police shouldn’t waste much time on it, but how far they carry that attitude will be interesting.
---
### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2003, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037/14 "2003-05-14T13:54:24Z")
> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by Nanoda \*
> \*\*I so don’t see how you got from de_criminalization\* of marijuana to the hedonistic smoking frenzy you describe. It’s kinda hard opening a business when your inventory consists of 15g of grass. Read the article: traffic is still illegal.
> \*\*
Please tell me, where do I describe a “hedonistic smoking frenzy”? I did read the article and I suggest that you do the same (I even bolded the important parts for you):
> [@](#):
>
> “We cannot table something **that does not exist** ,” the Prime Minister answered, saying **when the bill is ready, it will be introduced in the Commons**.
And
> [@](#):
>
> **Sources** told Canadian Press on Monday that possession of 15 grams of marijuana will **likely be met with only a fine** under new legislation.
Ah yes, the ever credible **sources** - look what they did for Jayson Blair. If you are a Liberal Party insider, I apologize and I would ask you to share what the legislation is going to be, keeping in mind that the Liberals don’t even know what they are going to present, and nobody knows what the final version, after debate, will look like.
Does anybody really believe that the Canadian government is going to decriminalize personal use and _not_ find a way to tax it? Come on, the Canadian government lives for finding things to tax and this could be huge.
---
### Author:  [@dylan\_73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dylan_73)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2003, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037/15 "2003-05-14T14:03:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by DreadCthulhu \*
> \*\*The USA will have to invade to put a stop to your ice-pinko’s demon-weed peddling ways. 😉 \*\*
Invade Canada?! Are you mad? Don’t you know they have [20,000 Jedi?](http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=58d5ac98-923a-42ee-8104-54a0a7bd82a2)
---
### Author:  [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037/16 "2003-05-14T14:32:49Z")
These are’nt the Jedi you’re looking for. You can move along.
---
### Author:  [@Coffeeguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coffeeguy)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2003, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037/17 "2003-05-14T18:44:35Z")
Is Canada _allowed_ to do anything that the U.S.A. disagrees with?
–CoffeeGuy
---
### Author:  [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037/18 "2003-05-15T00:36:58Z")
Maybe this is a silly question, but why do people always site _Amsterdam_ as the place where marijuana is effectively decriminalized? Is it the rest of the Netherlands completely different?
---
### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2003, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037/19 "2003-05-15T00:46:42Z")
> [@](#):
>
> _ **Coffeeguy** said:_
> Is Canada allowed to do anything that the U.S.A. disagrees with?
Certainly. But, because of _realpolitik_, we try to do it when the US isn’t looking. After all, it’s damned uncomfortable when the elephant rolls on top of you. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@johnboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnboy)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2003, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037/20 "2003-05-15T02:30:03Z")
Q: What happens when Canada decriminilizes pot?
A: Johnboy moves there!
Seriously folks, I like Canada. I took the test on their website to see if I can legally emigrate there. I was about 4 points away. I have no job there and know no one but by virtue of education level/skill-set/and savings I almost qualified.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-canada-decriminalizes-pot/175037.md?page=2)