The plan to legalize cannabis throughout Canada has begun to ruffle some feathers. Not just for all of the old, outdated justifications for prohibition in general; this time it’s over the liberal purchasing age of 18. The move to legalize recreational adult use cannabis is a historically significant and progressive event. The only thing more progressive is the shockingly low age limit – – – but should it be so shocking?
Age limits in general are arbitrarily set and as our understandings have shifted, so have the limits themselves. Around the world, the purchasing age for alcohol varies from 14 to 19 to 21. In some places, you can’t buy alcohol on Sundays. While the latter has little to do with age limits, it points out how ridiculously arbitrary decisions like this are.
In Canada, you can purchase alcohol, the single most destructive drug on the planet, at age 19. How is allowing purchases of cannabis at 18 much different? The one thing that none of the naysayers can deny is that cannabis is safe. The argument of “we just don’t know” as a word of caution simply just doesn’t hold up anymore. We have waited, and we have seen. The jury’s verdict is in, and cannabis, despite the critics, is safe for just about everyone.
Medical cannabis is currently available to patients 18 years of age, and in many cases younger. Cannabis is already being prescribed as a treatment for juvenile epilepsy, and other motor-neuron diseases. The introduction of cannabinoids to the body causes a healing effect in ways that science has yet to figure out. In a case where the positive physiological benefits of ingesting a substance far outweigh any potential harm, one must question the motives of all who object.
More often than not, it seems as though the old stigmas associated with cannabis use and the stereotypes that accompanied them, still affect the decisions of those who fear change. Politicians choose to block cannabis reform because they have no financial incentive to do so. To them, it is not about public safety or health. It is about keeping the money flowing. We are only now seeing a point where legal cannabis is raking in enough money that politicians are starting to take notice.
In Canada, the decision to move forward with a legal purchasing age of 18 is simply common sense. Cannabis is safe, healthy, and an excellent alternative to alcohol. The damage that alcohol has done to societies around the world is incalculable. Steering recreational users toward cannabis at a younger age may seem reckless and irresponsible to some. But by allowing for cannabis consumption at 18, the reality is that many will opt out of consuming alcohol for the safer green alternative.
Author - Cory Hughes / Twisted Purple Media.
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