On the Record – Ep.3 – The legalization of cannabis: moral good or money grab?

Graphic by Masih K

On this episode of On the Record: Three years after Canada became the second country to legalize cannabis, the realities of cannabis legalization are settling in. An inaccessible pardon system has made record suspensions difficult to get. Marijuana hasn’t been kept away from underage users, according to Health Canada. The Ontario Cannabis Store makes hundreds of millions off of what is now a monopoly on legal weed. We ask: does the legalization of cannabis serve a moral agenda or a monetary one? A lawyer, a retailer, and the academic researchers at the forefront of the issue weigh in.

Key points

6:34 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s 2017 stance on cannabis legalization

10:33 How the pardon process works

13:46 Who is really benefiting from cannabis legalization?

15:35 The overbuilding of the cannabis industry

22:01  The legal market vs. the illegal market

Who we heard from in order of appearance

Andrew Hathaway, criminal justice professor at Guelph University

Bradley Poulos, entrepreneurship professor at Ryerson University

Alan Gertner, co-founder of Tokyo Smoke

Harrison Jordan, Toronto-based cannabis lawyer

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Song Credits

Royalty-Free Music from Bensound

Image Credits

GoToVan via Flickr

See you next week, for another episode of On the Record.

Rachael Masih

Naama Weingarten

Masih K

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