Canada: 100% Increase In Pot Use

Use of recreational cannabis has doubled in the last 13 years.

From the Article:

...The number of Canadians ages 15 or older using marijuana has nearly doubled in 13 years, a Statistics Canada study found.
...

Also on Wednesday, Prime Minister Paul Martin said that his government would re-introduce decriminalization legislation when Parliament resumes in October.

"The legislation on marijuana � the decriminalization of minor quantities of marijuana � that legislation will be introduced," Mr. Martin told reporters after the first Liberal cabinet meeting was held.

Source

Can't wait for the US ambassador to start freaking out over this again!
The first time the bill was introduced he tried to tell Canadians what we should do in our own Parliament. No doubt the US government will express displeasure with us.

I say welcome to Canabis! ...oops... I mean Canada!

Yay canada!

This is something that needs to be done in America. Being that I don't partake in it myself, this doesnt really affect me but I think the laws against the use of pot are lame.

The US shuold be legalizing this and taxing it. Help pay for health care or something.

This is something that needs to be done in America. Being that I don't partake in it myself, this doesnt really affect me but I think the laws against the use of pot are lame.

Exactly! But i'm afraid they're are far too many conservatives in America that when they hear "pot" they kick into spouting off their programmed anti-drug stance, even though pot is probably safer than both alcohol and cigarettes.

-Attero

I don't agree with it...

My friend was a very active person smart got good grades, and then turned to pot...

Now she's a drug dealer and sits on her ass all day and smoke 6+ joints a day.

She's a total loser now.......Pot makes you lazy, my step mother goes on it and gets fat, she sits on her ass as soon as she gets home and munches out...

Her son smokes joints w/ her, then he dropped out of high school and started smoking pot.....he works now, but he can't hold a job...

All the people I know who smoke pot are really stupid...... They think their relaly creative and brilliant but imo they are far from...
And they get paranoia!!

Attero, for the most part you're probably right but I know several "conservatives" that smoke grass...There is a big "grey area" I'll bet.

Laziness is attributed to people not pot. Pot will make you tired
and weak if you do not take vitamins and plenty of WATER.
Otherwise it makes you think "outta the box" and increases
creativity.

The reason that pot, weed, marijuana has been forbidden is because
big business can not patent something natural. Before it became
illegal, hemp was used in everything from clothes to motor oil!
Get rid of cheap clothes, medicine, paper etc., so big business
can get bigger.

Canada is by far becoming my favorite country.

I know a person who did pot only once or twice and trust me shes stupid. She had been getting good grades before. But hey at least Canadas not as bad as Amsterdam.

Ugg I very much doubt it that pot use has gone up 100 %. I just think the stigma about it is starting to drain away so people are less likely to lie when asked in a survey. I still believe that the total number of people who have smoke pot in Canada is higher than this survey says, I think its somewhere around 50 % of the population thats tried it at least once. As for regular smokers like me, I'd say we only make up around 5-10 % of the population.

TrueLies, yeah Pot does make you lazy, thats why you gotta pick and choose your time and place to do it and 6+ joints a day every day is not only a waste since you develope an immunity to the affects its very very unhealthy since if you smoke tabacco as well they could compound and affect your lungs way worse than just smoking weed.

I also know achoholics and I would prefer to spend my time with a pothead over an alchy any day of the week, cuz they just seem to be way more stable. Plus in Toronto Cocain is everywhere now and most of the Potheads I know would never stick somthing up thier nose, but every Alchy i've know, and I MEAN EVERY SINGLE ONE I HAVE MET WAS ADDICTED TO COKE. Now I'm not saying that every alchy is a Coke head, I'm just saying that Alchohol seems to be much more of a 'Gateway Drug' than pot is.

Originally posted by TrueLies
I don't agree with it...

My friend was a very active person smart got good grades, and then turned to pot...

Now she's a drug dealer and sits on her ass all day and smoke 6+ joints a day.

She's a total loser now.......Pot makes you lazy, my step mother goes on it and gets fat, she sits on her ass as soon as she gets home and munches out...

Her son smokes joints w/ her, then he dropped out of high school and started smoking pot.....he works now, but he can't hold a job...

All the people I know who smoke pot are really stupid...... They think their relaly creative and brilliant but imo they are far from...
And they get paranoia!!

All of that's happening now even though it's illegal.
That proves that their plan for stopping it's use through criminalizing has not worked.

In the Netherlands, where Marijuana is legal, their usage is lower than that of the US where it's not.

AMSTERDAM, Jan 6 ((1999)) (Reuters) - The Netherlands has significantly fewer
cannabis users than its reputation as a soft drugs haven might suggest, according to a study released on Wednesday.

The study, financed by the health ministry and conducted by Amsterdam
University and the Central Bureau of Statistics, is the first to document national drugs use.

It found 15.6 percent of Dutch people aged 12 and over had used or tried cannabis, versus a U.S. figure of 32.9 percent.

The Dutch study, published on Tuesday and which spanned 1997 and early
1998, determined 2.5 percent of those aged 12 and over had used cannabis within the last month.

``(This) amounts to some 323,000 people, and is thus significantly lower
than the estimate of 675,000 used by the (Dutch) government,'' the study said.

In contrast, U.S. National Household Survey data for 1997 compiled by
the Washington-based Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA) determined 5.1 percent of Americans were recent cannabis users.
link

You can make it legal but still discourage its use.
Use money from taxation on it to fund campaigns to discourage its use and to set up rehab centers.
Use the money saved on law enforcement and imprisonment of marijuana cases into other areas of law enforcement.

BTW, I'm not a user myself but I still feel it should be legal.

I don't think Canadian can afford a tax increase will martin pulling some # with health care and the 15% tax already and then the tax on top of that from your s.i.n......

So if people want to smoke pot go ahead, theirs ways to get around it without having it legal, if they legalize it then taxes go up and people get #ed yet again...

And I highly doubt people that are pot heads are going to take the time out to take multi vitamins and drink water...

Saurion, my friend's doc said if she doesn't stop she'll die within 10 yrs her lungs are #ed, and she's only 21...
She smokes, drinks, does coke, crack once in a while, and smokes pot ALL THE TIME.....
But she got into it because she thought it was cool...

At least some governments have got this figured out....

I didn't start smoking until I was in my senior year of high school - I smoked straight through my four years of college and it didn't "make me lazy" - but then again, I didn't smoke 6 or more joints a day either - someone who smokes that much weed everyday has other issues they need to deal with besides smoking pot....

In its pure recreational use, weed is liberator - It frees your mind, muscles and inhabtions - only a person with a weak mind will let these freedoms brought on by smoking destroy themselves. I have never done any other drug, and I have never strived for less than the best - Smoking weed is just one of my many past-time activites that I enjoy doing....I never was high before class or around my parents....If you are smart with how you do certain things and respect others, you can smoke weed on a regualr basis and be of no harm to yourself or those around you.

Canada and the Netherlands have figured this much out, and they've also saved money on arresting and harboring prisoners who's sole crime was the possesion of marijuana

Its sad that a little plant can strike so much fear into people who have either never tried it or refuse to listen to those that have - These are the people and ideas that need to change in order for the US gov't to consider change...

The gov't itself was responsible for creating the stir-crazy ideas that "marijuana makes little Johnny a mad killer", and there's plenty of 30s and 40s PR that our gov't put out that instilled those values in Americans and which has passed through our society today....the man who started the drug war was a racist and used his racist ideals to base his scare-tactics off of

You are entitled to your own opinions of what weed does to a person, but if you have not experimented with it on more than at least 10 occasions, then your opinion on the matter is null and void in my book. Some people have different responses to it - some people become lazy and some become spiritual - some become idiots and some become a genious - but each response is controllable and reflexive....with the many different strands out there you can have a multitude of different highs, but each high is one that can be molded by the user if they've had enough experience and it is that selective desire to do such a thing that seperates those that abuse weed and those that use it.

[edit on 7/22/2004 by EnronOutrunHomerun]

OHHHHHHHHH Canada, OHHHHHHHHHHH Canada, can someone help me out with the rest, I am going to need to learn the rest if I am going to move there.

I�ve smoked for years a joint a day sometimes half a bag, it makes me lazy at times but I�m lazy to begin with, but I ride my mountain bike more times than I take my car out, go walking all the time and smoke a joint LOL work around the house, run my restaurant.
I think if you are energetic or lazy, pot or no pot that�s the way you are

A lot of studies prove that pot has some serious side effects. But of course why not ban birth control since there side effects may include heart attack and stroke.

Saurion, my friend's doc said if she doesn't stop she'll die within 10 yrs her lungs are , and she's only 21...

Yikes she musta started young. I didn't start until I was 17, cause frankly I was scared because I believed ALOT of the propaganda about weed, but I do know people who are like that and they don't seem to care what they put into thier bodies, and I just think its discusting, but you shouldn't paint all pot heads like that cuz they aren't. I am proof of that as are most of the people I choose to spend my time with these days, since I have allready lost contact with the people that pretty much did what you described and its sad really. All the more reason to Legalize it and Tax it like we Tax Tabacco and use the money made & saved from less people being arrested due to Weed we could use that money(i think its about 2 Billion a year from Taxes alone dont know how much the Courts and the Cops will save if Marijuana was Legal)

And I highly doubt people that are pot heads are going to take the time out to take multi vitamins and drink water...

Well I do drink alot of water, I've cut out caffine totally now since it leeches Calcium from the bones but thats a different thread...

I don't think Canadian can afford a tax increase will martin pulling some # with health care and the 15% tax already and then the tax on top of that from your s.i.n......

Taxing Weed would be like how Tabacco is taxed and it wouldn't affect people who didn't smoke it. BTW Martin hasn't really done anything with health care yet as PM(As finance minister I have no idea what he did so to that I am kinda ignorant), I believe you are thinking about McGuinty the Ontario Priemier and Ralph Klien the Priemier of Alberta they have been the most aggresive about challenging the Canada Health Act although Ralph Klien is doing it totally out of greed since Alberta has a $5 Billion surplus now. McGuinty is doing it because we got a $ 5.3 Billion Deficit now(thanks to the Conservatives......)

Originally posted by cyberdude78
A lot of studies prove that pot has some serious side effects. But of course why not ban birth control since there side effects may include heart attack and stroke.

And blood clots.......

How can people say it's a harmless little pot? Youalready have natural thc levels in your brain why do you want to harm your lungs with the smoke? There's no filters, it turns your lungs black, it burns that tiny hair you need to breathe, 10 cigs= 1 joint.........

I don't careif you smoke a bag of weed a day or aton of weed a day, just don't smoke it around me...
People who smoke weed seem to brag about it like it's this cool thing to do..
I've smoked before and it really does nothing to me......
Except make me hungry and numb, I feel like an old lady walking when i'm on it... I've laughed so hard on it I've almost peed my pants, but why do I want to get high, being just me is enough, I have enough confidence in myself to think i'm creative and it doesn't take much to think outside the box...
Again i'm not an expert just my opinion, I also find potheads have a hard time having intellectual debates without getting emotional and defensive especially when it comes to pot issues.
I just don't think people who smoke pot really know what it does, they go off what they hear, and all the pot smokers seem to read from the same book...

What happens to your seratonin levels when your on it and when you come off it? What happens to your chemical balance? Does it not become imbalanced and thus need to smoke to feel "balanced" again??
Just curious...
I know I felt groggy when I came off, I felt tired and lazy, being au naturel give me more energy and more of a chemical balance then on weed...
I love myself too much to put anything more in my body...
I can function without, I drink water, I work out, I take my vitamins and calcium, and i'm active... Pot doesn't make me active an di'm a very active person.. but i guess it's not for everybody.. to each his own, i'm done rambling lol.

Sardion, I see your point... And yes i'm think of McGuinty... I also heard that Martin wanted to do the same... Yikes, what a hell that would be... Paying taxes to everything how does one save money for their own livlihood??

Yes she has problems, i'm going to assume if she's injecting all that into her body, she hangs around people like that too so I don't think she'll ever get out of that kind of lifestyle...

I didn't know that about the coffee thing, I drink coffee everyday, and if it leaks calcium out of your bones i'm stopping...
I also take calcium chews everyday though too, so maybe it balances itself out but I doubt it......

Originally posted by TrueLies
....
And blood clots
.....
How can people say it's a harmless little pot?

Smoking anything can give you blood clots, as well as drinking alchohol, not excersizing regularly, eat to much red meat etc etc etc what your point...eat it then and you avoid most of the negative side affects. And just for the record anyone who says anything is harmless,(even water can be toxic if you drink too much) is misinformed.

....
burns that tiny hair you need to breathe, 10 cigs= 1 joint....
....

So does breathing in polluted air and tobacco and for the record its 3-4 cigs = 1 Gram joint its 10-1 when you smoke tabacco too.

I don't careif you smoke a bag of weed a day or aton of weed a day, just don't smoke it around me...

I always respect a persons space and if they don't wont me smoking around them then I respect their wishes...

....
People who smoke weed seem to brag about it like it's this cool thing to do..
....

Maybe when they're young but as you get older you tend to keep it to yourself since some people seem to treat you differently if they know you smoke pot.

....
being just me is enough, I have enough confidence in myself to think i'm creative and it doesn't take much to think outside the box...
....

And I applaud you for that, you seem like you really know who you are and who you wanna be keep it up

....
I also find potheads have a hard time having intellectual debates without getting emotional and defensive especially when it comes to pot issues.
I just don't think people who smoke pot really know what it does, they go off what they hear, and all the pot smokers seem to read from the same book...
....

Have I got defensive?? Or emotional?? I only really get emotional in dabates when debating politics...

What happens to your seratonin levels when your on it and when you come off it? What happens to your chemical balance? Does it not become imbalanced and thus need to smoke to feel "balanced" again??
Just curious...

Check out this website it has all the latest reasearch on the Weed Issue.
www.newscientist.com...;jsessionid=LPKLHLLOPFDG

I was referring to birth control when I mentioned blod clots, and your defensive when you talk about stuff, I was actually thinking of other people I know who can't have healthy debate without getting defensive especiallyif it has to do with pot.

I'll check that sit out, you seem to be a responsible person, I don't want to paint everybody withthe same brush, i'm just speaking from experience, what i've witnessed, observed, ect.. And all that fun stuff...

And it's true you do treat adults differently i fyou find out they smoke pot...
I think its because the people who don't smoke get along fine without it and look at people who smoke it like their using it as a crutch and to self medicate themselves...

I'm not going to debate potheads on pot, just like i'm not going to debate gays in being gay... It's not my place i'm just sharing my own personal experience with ya.. tis all... enjoy your weed!