Speaking of drugs, how’s the legal weed going in Canada? I’m not a user myself but I’m curious about how noticeable it is in the street? Are there any stats yet about recreational uptake since legalisation? Has it taken a dent out of regular cigarette smokers? Or are people mostly using privately?
The reason I ask is because one thing I always notice when I travel overseas is how much more prevalent (cigarette) smoking is than at home. For well over a decade now NZ has been working across party lines to become completely cigarette smoke free, and it’s actually working. Hardly anyone smokes inside their homes either.
We’re having more political rumblings of legalisation of cannabis, which would complicate our Smokefree stance quite a bit.
From a strictly opinion point of view it hasn't really changed much. Smokers smoke, weed users aren't always the same. I'd guess most weed users I know don't smoke tobacco. As a sidebar vaping seems to be the cool thing for the "kids" to do these days (15-25).
I'll confess to being naive about legalization. I was all for it thinking it could generate significant tax revenue. I should have known better in that the government would manage to screw it up. I do know lots of people that smoke and they all have tried purchasing through official channels and have, to put it mildly, found it unsatisfactory. So virtually all of them have gone back to their original "seller" and that market remains largely unchanged. From their perspective it is cheaper and better quality. More reliable source as well.
I smell it occasionally on my way to and from work but that's nothing different than pre-legalization. It's nothing like Vancouver which in turn is nothing like Amsterdam (all of Europe smoke me as big tobacco smokers). The laws don't really allow for it out in the open all that much (I don't believe you can spark up on a restaurant patio) so people just haven't really changed their behaviors IMO. The only time I really smell it is at music funtions (concerts, Folk Fest, etc.). I really don't think it changed use patterns all that much either. If you partake you were partaking before. I'm sure there's been a few that have been motivated to try it but for the most part it's not really changing people's behaviors.
I think decriminalization might have been the better option than outright legalization. For the most part police didn't really bother too many about it (especially in Vancouver) for use unless it was blatant and even then it wasn't worth their time to arrest someone.
BTW, the actual number of traffic fatalities that year was 73. So...
