Leonid McKay, the new head of the Cannabis Authority (hilarious) is part of the “people saving business” grifter of professionals. He used to head Caritas, the Church agency which rehabilitates drug addicts. He praises the new government’s marijuana law which doesn’t actually decrminalises the use and distribution of marijuana, doesn’t allow its commercialisation, and also created a contradictory legal regime that resulted in a medical doctor being charged with trafficking medical cannabis products.
Now, Leonid wants to save marijuana smokers by reducing the harm they do to themselves. His pitch is to stop buying marijuana from the black market and buy it legally from a non-commercial market that doesn’t exist, of course. In the fantasy world of the government and Leonid McKay, marijuana is going to exchange for free by NGOs or clubs. No-profit hippie smoking club where every product is approved by the government bureaucrat: Leonid McKay. Leonid says that dealers are ripping us off by selling us synthetic marijuana instead of the real thing. Apparently, Leonid has found some good stash which he is recommending.
I am confused. Am I high? Last time I checked, dealers had a good product and none of them offered me synthetic marijuana – what the fuck is synthetic marijuana, anyway? It’s either marijuana, the plant-based product, or it isn’t, Then if it’s not, it’s something else. Also, will the government be distributing marijuana for free since its commercialisation is not allowed? Or maybe, Leonid expects marijuana smokers to buy from the government and the government is going to become our main man.
“Yo Leonid, whats up, bro? do you have some of that Afghan kush of last time? My man.”
Most of this is not really to help people who smoke, anyway. This was a very unsuccessful attempt by the government to greenwash its authoritarianism, in fact, the law itself made little or no inroads in the decriminalisation of marijuana in the country. The majority of people who actually smoke aren’t waiting for Leonid to save them either, and don’t care whatever the authority will do. The black market exists and is efficient for the simple reason that it is unregulated – it is riskier for people who are not educated on what they buy, but Leonid is overstating the risks out of self-serving interest. In reality, he is doing a very useless and unproductive job working a scheme and a broken law that doesn’t really affect people who smoke anyway.
What a farce.
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