The sa国际传媒 government鈥檚 recently announced crackdown on illegal cannabis retailers is ill-advised, to say the least.
With an almost complete lack of legal outlets across Vancouver Island, this move represents nothing less than a move toward stealth prohibition.
Here鈥檚 a fact of life for you: A significant percentage of British Columbians smoke cannabis. It鈥檚 part of the culture here and has been for a long time. People want their weed and they want it often. The system, as it stands, has almost no legitimate retail outlets, and the product they supply 鈥� when they supply it 鈥� is mostly garbage.
Don鈥檛 kid yourself; the black market will respond.
There were a great many people back in the 1980s who worked very hard, under the constant threat of arrest, to make sa国际传媒 bud the best on the planet.
Local entrepreneurs have been taking advantage of that significant talent.
That鈥檚 what we should be doing. Legalize the good outlets that exist and let them get the product from the local suppliers, rather than from geeks in lab coats in some underground bunker.
Use what we have built in this province over the years and you can start raking in the tax revenue. Otherwise, the guerrilla gardeners will once again be more than happy to step up to the plate.
Neil Horner
Qualicum Beach
