It’s become painfully obvious that the Liberal government’s legalization scheme is becoming just that, a scheme, to completely take over marijuana sales in Canada. Think about that for a minute: just how much weed is sold here? To be honest, in the market that exists today I’m afraid to even try to guess how much pot is sold in a week, never mind in a month. But one thing that does seem clear is that the government wants no part of the cannabis community in the soon-to-be legal market.
What is the future for personal recreational growing? For obvious reasons, patients’ advocates fought hard for the right to grow one’s own medical marijuana. Now that the Liberal government has accepted the Supreme Court decision it’s natural for activists and advocates to start wondering and asking about home growing for non-patients. After all, if it’s going to be legalized, why wouldn’t the government make all the medical options available to recreational users too?
I adore the Overgrow Canada movement. The message is powerful and peaceful: overgrow Canada with cannabis. If people have the courage to grow cannabis plants in their front yards, window sills, and parkways, we show our leaders that we are no longer waiting while people’s lives are destroyed by pointless criminal records but black market activities and shady grow operations continue. Overgrow Canada is a revolution I can get behind. It feels like an art project: how beautiful seeing all those plants growing in the wild could be.
The appalling reality of the promise of legalization has come to haunt many of us. Since the new government took over in November, Canadian Medical Cannabis Partners Society have repeatedly inquired about the promise to legalize and how it affects medical users. Would the Canadian Liberals keep the MMPR despite Allard’s expected win against its restrictions on personal growing?
Wednesday, February 24th, 2016 was a monumental day in Canadian cannabis action with the long-awaited decision in the Allard case. It was a fight that saw medical marijuana users taking the Canadian government to court for around the tenth time in fourteen years, and each time part or all of the medical marijuana program has been found unconstitutional. This time the fight was over the right of patients to grow their own marijuana or have a designated grower rather than be forced to buy it from a small handful of government-sanctioned Licensed Producers.
Jan
22
Celebrations are over, the holidays have come and gone, the bills have started coming in, and tax time is near. Which means the days have started getting longer and many of us are anxiously waiting to start our new gardens. So now is the time to finalize your summer growing plans. Good planning pays off and you gotta make hay while the sun shines, as the old saying goes.
The holiday season is here and while many people are jetting south to some warm climate or getting together with friends and family, for others it’s all about planning to grow out some plants next year.
Now that the Canadian Liberal government has said it is going to legalize marijuana for recreational use by adults — and add to that the Ontario government just gave the okie dokie for medical users to smoke almost anywhere in public — I know that a lot of people are starting to think of putting in some kind of garden, either an indoor setup or they’re planning to grow out some plants next summer. In this next series of articles I plan to focus on how to put together a small garden in the summer, and the things you can do that will give a better chance for a good harvest.
Last week’s election brought hope and possibilities for many Canadians including — especially after the last decade under Stephen Harper — those of us with an interest in a legal marijuana industry.
But the reasons for this shared interest vary almost as much as they conflict.
It’s hard to fathom, for many, the loss of your right to have a garden. I never thought when I was first licensed under the MMAR program that it would change so much that we wouldn’t be able to grow our own plants. For some the reality of this change is still hanging in the balance because of the Allard Injunction, which at this time means anyone who held a valid MMAR licence as of September of 2013 continues to have it unless they move.
From the time Patrick Vrolyk was a small boy, his parents taught him the importance of responsibility such as doing chores without arguing, showing respect towards parents and others, and earning rewards by working for his allowance. Upbringing nowadays often mean kids take pleasures for granted without earning their rewards. The expectation of overly material lifestyles evolved with our technology, depreciating the value of normal everyday things like hot water, education and non-designer clothing. Where did we get lost? I hope that this interview reminds us all of the importance of ethics, responsibility and hard work that pays off. Redbeard has experienced life, and this is his. Enjoy!
Ten weeks to the day that I met with a qualified doctor I had my pink papers in my hand and I thought I was invincible. But the law had other ideas.
Sending off packages of my home grown cannabis to friends and patients on a regular basis—I had my garden growing long before my papers were in my hand—I treated it like the plant it is. Until weeks later when I went to my local post office to pick up a package on April 15th, 2011 and was arrested for trafficking…of four grams of cannabis. Yes, four grams. Thankfully although many other packages went out that day only one was caught in the mail.