Failing some sort of unforeseen and major gaffe, Justin Trudeau will become Prime Minister of this country. I believe it and there’s a lot of evidence to back up the prediction that he’s on his way to the top job.
Pierre’s first-born has broken past the perception that he’s just Trudeau’s kid. He’s smart, well-spoken and not afraid to be human and laugh a little, something Stephen Harper seems allergic to. I think Harper refused to take the Ice Bucket Challenge (he wrote a cheque instead) because water would cause him to short-circuit and reveal what we’ve all suspected: he’s a robot.
When Justin Trudeau said he’d move to legalize marijuana, the most conservative, stuck-in-the-dark-ages talk show host in our city pronounced his campaign dead and said the Liberals were over. The opposite is happening. Even people like me who have zero personal interest in pot, understand that it’s a plant, for goodness sake, it’s far less dangerous than alcohol and it’s got medicinal uses for people in pain. Legalizing it would put an entire black market network out of business and bring the government much-needed tax revenue. Even the Canadian Chiefs of Police are asking that, for now, their officers be allowed to ticket someone carrying pot rather than charging them with a criminal offence. It clogs up the courts and takes up thinly stretched resources to make a criminal out of some poor dude with a joint for personal use.
The Conservatives tried to attack Trudeau on the pot issue with a series of ads featuring a panicked-sounding woman claiming Justin Trudeau wants to put pot in the hands of her children. They also ran ads citing his lack of political experience, trying to make it seem that he thinks he was born into the job of PM. They used the words “reckless” and “in over his head”. But they’ve backfired. Trudeau comes out ahead of Harper and even NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair (who is also ranked ahead of Harper) on likability, trustworthiness, judgment, and other key perceptions. He’s an optimistic, relaxed man who isn’t afraid to say he doesn’t know something but knows how to find and employ people who do know. Honesty. What a concept!
My brilliant friend, Dr. Shannon Sampert, recently took a leave of absence from her job as a Political Science Prof at the University of Winnipeg to become the Perspectives Editor at the Winnipeg Free Press. She’s the first woman in the position’s 144 year history and I could go on and on about her accomplishments and her achievements since we worked together in radio out west, and were roommates, about 100 years ago, but I think you get the idea. She recently hosted a live-streamed Q and A with Trudeau and he didn’t duck any tough questions, kept the mood light but respectful to the issues and was just so darn human through the whole thing. The next morning, he would get the news that someone broke into his Montreal home while his family slept and his first reaction wasn’t to rant and rave or point fingers. He acted like a worried family man, which is what he was. “I need to reconsider how much time I spend on the road”, he said. “I have to know that my family are safe at home.”
There’s a fine line between, the decriminalization and legalization of pot, and this is where the confusion stands. The police chiefs would like to see pot decriminalized enabling them to write tickets for simple possession, but there in know way in favour of the legalization of pot. The argument that pot is less dangerous than alcohol is a fools argument. Dynamite is less dangerous than C4, but in either case if handled in appropriately has serious and predictable consequences. You can decriminalize pot thus taking the stress off the courts and yet still tap into the medicinal benefits of pot,and don’t kid yourself, there are dangers to pot, for anything use excessively can have negative consequences.
I agree with you, Lisa. And as for pot being less dangerous than alcohol: when it comes to use of a vehicle, etc., of course it’s equally dangerous. So are Tylenol 3 and allergy tablets. But pot is a drug that (for the vast majority) is so mellowing that it does NOT make you get into fights, beat your wife or children or partake in many of the horrendous alcohol-related behaviours that have been the scourge of our society since man first figured out a way to make it. And that’s not a fool’s argument; it’s the truth.
The rationalization and justification of legalizing pot because it is some how less dangerous than alcohol is a fools argument. For the underlying fact is, it’s dangerous. Although I will agree, that alcohol is and has been a contributing factor in the horrendous alcohol induced behaviours that have been the scourge of our society, it is merely a contributing factor not the underlying cause. Take a look at todays news and the horrendous behaviours occurring in the middle east, shall we contribute them to alcohol? Your extrapolating a symptom and projecting it as the cause, it’s not.
Allan, I’m not extrapolating, I’m simply comparing apples and apples. To add clarity, my point is this: no matter the underlying cause (obviously anger management in the alcohol related crimes other than drunk driving) pot is far less likely than alcohol to bring it out in a person than marijuana. Marijuana mellows and I’m saying where alcohol (legal) and pot (illegal) are concerned, it’s time to stop with the legal and moral double standards in our society.
Even a plastic bag is dangerous in the hands of a toddler, you know? I think the comparison was between alcohol and marijuana. Mentioning the Middle East brings religion and fundamentalism into the discussion. Seems to me a little pot would go a long way toward getting fanatics to lay down their arms.
You’ve missed the point. Had society had it to do all over, alcohol wouldn’t be legal either. so are we going to simply continue to make one mistake followed by another simply because some feel it’s unfair or a double standard. Take a look around you, double standards exist everywhere. As to legal morals, well that is a very slippery slope. So we legalize pot, shall we also legalize the carrying of hand guns?
I don’t agree that society would handle alcohol differently if it had it to do over again. Prohibition was a failure on a wide scale but still exists in small pockets where it’s what the people want. I have no interest in using pot but I’m fed up with government nannying us to death with everything. There is a massive black market, dangerous criminal element and more nefarious goings-on because of the banning of pot, just like there were booze-makers when it was illegal. The people will find a way to get what they want. Legal and regulated, it will bring tax revenue and kill a whole segment of the black market. Pot and guns have nothing to do with each other unless you’re using a gun to defend your pot because the government says you can’t have it.
so, lets bring this back on topic. I think Mr. Trudeau has already made a major gaffe although currently not evident with his statement that he’d legalize pot. This sets up the debate between the two extremes, the existing rationalization of pot and the proposed legalization of pot with the police chiefs firmly in the middle seeking the decriminalization but not legalization of pot.
Now, lets turn to the voter. voters don’t vote based on logic or facts, they vote based on their emotions and are more likely to align themselves with the party more closely resembling that of the police chiefs position.
As to the Conservatives attack ads, well in my house they did resonate with my 80 year old mum, and given that seniors are more likely to vote than those under 30, he very likely has alienated a large number of seniors.
If you want to play in the sand box, its much easier to play in the middle verses the edges.
Oh Allan, my good man. When you so confidently state that the argument that pot is less dangerous than alcohol “is a fools’ argument” you couldn’t be more mistaken. If your argument was simply that anything can be abused or used in excess I would have to agree. Take the decadent cheeseburger for instance. You need only walk any city street or enter any mall to see the rampant, jiggly results of cheeseburger abuse strolling around with great difficulty. But I don’t think that’s what you’re implying. I think you actually believe that pot use has as many negative effects as alcohol use. You are completely wrong. As someone who has used and abused both alcohol and electric lettuce for longer than I would care to admit (but sober as a judge for over 3 years now) I can tell you the negative effects of each are not even comparable. Let’s take a look:
Alcohol-aggression
impaired judgement
violence
blackouts
aggressive driving and speeding
Weed-uncontrollable munchies
lack of motivation (opposite of aggression)
tendency to drive so far under the speed limit
as to become a real nuisance to other drivers
uncontrollable munchies (yeah, that’s a bad one)
risk of having sore stomach muscles the next day
due to long-term fits of laughter (aka “the best
medicine)
Alcohol kills people daily. Alcohol poisoning, murders, traffic deaths. But nobody has ever, in history, OD’d on weed. I’ve never known or heard of anyone who has become violent after burning a doobie. As for driving under the influence of weed I totally agree there would be danger due to impairment but you definitely wouldn’t see the same carnage you would see in high speed alcohol related collisions.
Years ago I hired about a dozen men from a program in Kingston that was designed to get paroled inmates integrated back into society by getting them working again. Through conversations I had with each of them, every one of them, without exception, were under the influence of alcohol when they committed their crimes. About half of them self-medicated with marijuana to keep themselves chilled out now that they were easing their way back into society.
Allan, I respect many of your opinions that you share with us from time to time but this one was way off the mark.