It appears reefer madness does not inflict the halls of the Chatham-Kent Civic Centre.
And that’s a good thing.
In the 1936 film “Reefer Madness,” marijuana is shown as an evil, vile drug, where innocent teens are quickly drawn into crime, all from visiting a pot house.
But in reality, the madness is the extreme negative reaction to marijuana use.
Back in 1923, the federal government opted to make marijuana illegal. And now, 95 years later, it’s about to become legal, within reason.
And that reason, at least in Chatham-Kent, is to essentially treat it the same way as we’d treat alcohol.
In other words, it’s a recreational drug that is not legally available to people under the age of 19, it will be sold from a controlled location, you can’t consume it in public, and you can be nailed for impaired driving if you enjoy too much of it and are stupid enough to get behind the wheel of your car.
Yes, there will be a storefront operation in Chatham. The Ontario Cannabis Store will sell pot to anyone over the age of 19, just like alcohol.
The control on marijuana is tight. C-K police say you can walk around with 30 grams of dope on you. Any more than that and you could face a fine, or criminal charges.
Numerous C-K police officers have already been trained to recognize the signs of drug impairment.
The growth of marijuana for personal consumption is an area that will likely lead to problems. If old Mr. Hooper has a personal pot plant growing in his backyard, what’s to stop teenagers Tommy and Biff from hopping his fence one night and helping themselves to a little of Hooper’s buds?
Kudos to municipal staff for not getting reefer madness. They acted correctly in prioritizing the protection of our youth, the community in general, road safety, and attacking the illegal pot market.
The latter, however, may be difficult to curb, at least in terms of grow ops, as much of the illegal pot grown here heads south of the border.
It may not matter that government-approved pot will sell for less than what the illegal growers are currently selling theirs for on the street, as most of the United States remains staunchly anti-marijuana. Well, the lawmakers, at least, but not the consumers.
