With cannabis legalization on the horizon, I would like to tell our community what cannabis means to many people currently using it medicinally and why the strong stigma is bothersome. This is in response to (Legalization Wrong, August 7). I personally have been using cannabis for medicinal purposes for about 5 years now and it has changed my life for the better. I function with cannabis, and that’s the bottom line. I’ve never had a mental crisis, or any negative affects from cannabis for that matter. No ones allergies will be a problem because it’s only legal to be used on your own property (even if you’re a neighbors cannabis smoke doesn’t travel that far) and I believe everyone has a right to that much. Cannabis is not the same as other street “drugs”, and it has not been proven to increase crime. The only reason our crime rates have increased is because of the opioid crisis and opioids are much different than cannabis. Opioids are a truly addictive and dangerous drug whereas overdosing on cannabis has never happened, it is scientifically and physically impossible. Its not going to be sold in corner stores, there are set cannabis stores by the Ontario government and if they go with privatization, the current dispensaries will have to follow the rules too. I want privatization because as a medicinal consumer we need to keep it as cheap as possible. Many of us are currently paying a quarter of what the government is going to charge in their stores. That is not feasible for many people, especially those reliant on ODSP etc. If you’ve never used cannabis and don’t plan on trying it, at least do some research, just please don’t make assumptions, because it’s 2018 and time to end the stigma surrounding cannabis.
Taylor Harding