When lawmakers have spoken of cannabis legalization over the years, it's sounded like what they were proposing was a newfound freedom in the cannabis market, a change that would enable people to start interacting with this plant without having to fear being subjected to any violence in-return.
And that has been true to a certain extent, however, as different legalization markets have been implemented, we still see that many people have been arrested, shops have been closed down, licenses have been refused, there is still a great deal of restriction involved in the "legal" market.
While the new rules might still offer prohibition to those who don't exactly follow the guidelines that have been established, they do offer more clarity to people growing, selling, and using etc, but there is still great opportunity for people to be harmed and have their liberty infringed, because of their peaceful cannabis-related activities.
Governments have made a mess of the cannabis legalization move in a myriad of ways, and despite the changes to welcome a certain level of acceptance, there are still difficulties that people face and violence that they have been subjected to still because of victimless crimes involving cannabis. Depending on who you ask, they might tell you that the cannabis market was better prior to legalization in certain areas, and that government has only come in to ruin and confuse the situation.
Others, are glad that they can now purchase products from "a trusted government-approved source" even if they've proven to be too expensive, and incapable of adequately meeting market demands.
Despite the changes in legalization in places like the United States and Canada, the black market has continued to thrive and though lawmakers might have wanted to use their plans for legalization to bring that black market to an end it hasn't happened. However, some reports suggest that the cannabis market in Canada at least, might not be dominated any longer by organized crime groups.
Prior to government efforts that were intended to bring clarification to the market, it seemed as if there was better organization and more selection, while state agents have continually made a mess of things with their allegedly corrupt license schemes and other legalization efforts. There are still significant barriers of access to cannabis in a variety of regions and just because they might announce plans "to legalize cannabis" doesn't mean that within a year, or even several years, that people will be able to grow, purchase, or consume, easily and without enduring any violence as a result of those actions.
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Pic2 G Wylesol via Guardian
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