Now support for legal cannabis sales in Canada is dropping

Canadian Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won the vote of young voters with the promise to legalize cannabis. The decision was supported by 69 percent of Canadians. The main arguments were that prohibition did not work, but instead organized organized crime that makes big money on the black market.

But today, a year later, support is down to 50 percent, according to a survey from Dalhousie University. No studies have been able to show that the black market has shrunk, even though cannabis is now legally sold.

SVT Nyheter visits a brand-new cannabis factory in the Canadian province of Alberta. The facility is surrounded by high fences and security cameras. CEO Jeff Karren at Joi Botanicals worries about the competition from the black market. 86 percent of all cannabis sold in Canada reaches consumers through the black market.

"The illegal grass is grown in poorer hygienic conditions than with us, but sure, the price of the illegal grass is 30-35 percent lower," he notes.

In total, 286 state-licensed stores have opened in the country. In a suburb of Calgary, between grocery stores, pharmacies and liquor stores, cannabis products are sold in elegant stores, which might as well have been able to sell smartphones or exclusive travel. The plunger will be gone.

But a new study shows that most of the stores have opened in socially vulnerable residential areas. Doctor Catherine Brown is one of the researchers behind the study. She talks about a gigantic public health experiment.

- As a doctor I feel great concern. If legalization is to work, we must protect young people, so why allow cannabis stores to be located two minutes walk from high schools?

She continues:

- We also know that there are health risks with cannabis. Those who use cannabis are more often affected by psychological problems such as anxiety and psychoses, and those who drive when they are high are at greater risk of getting into car accidents.

Later this fall, Canada will also allow edible cannabis products. In the US state of Colorado where cannabis is also legalized, cases of acute cannabis poisoning have tripled since allowing edible products. They are sold in the form of brownies, candy canes and jelly bears. Children eat them by mistake and have come in with acute poisoning symptoms such as difficulty breathing and sometimes in coma.

Professor Eugene Oscapella at the University of Ottawa is one of the advocates of legalization in Canada. He dismisses the criticism of an ongoing public health experiment. He believes that legalization will work better and better.

- I do not advocate the use of cannabis, but I accept that there are drugs so the community must help to minimize the risks. The prices of legal cannabis must fall, we must get the right number of stores and then the state propaganda about cannabis health risks must stop. Otherwise, people will not rely on public health education.

Eugene Oscapella believes that all countries should legalize cannabis in order to get rid of organized crime and that the next step is to legalize fentanyl and allow doctors to prescribe heroin via prescription.

- We have to make sure that the drugs are removed from the grip of organized crime. But the Canadian government cannot do this alone, as long as it is banned in other countries, smuggling and illegal trade will continue.