Yeah, I've been ruminating on this one since it was announced.
It really does define both the con mentality and the uninformed 'anti' argument.
They are starting from an arbitrary $10/gram "street price"...first off, Health Canada charges half of that.
Logically then, the cons will put the rate somewhere in the middle: $7.60 allows for a profit margin.
Yet they are stepping in to replace HC, so it should still be $5/g.
As for the RCMP administering it: that's an odd one given that the RCMP opposed their politically-convenient kibosh of the gun registry. Apparently they didn't learn from the gun registry that the RCMP couldn't organize a bunny-fuck in a swimming pool. They are too busy tasing people and covering up their own boys' club to do any real policing. Remember that, in all the 'grow op busts' that you read about, they are counting fresh-cut clones as 'plants' (despite not having roots like a plant) and calculate "street value" based on their idea of what the plants would, in their opinion, produce. No thanks...I'll solve my own problems before I'll ever call the queen's cowboys for 'help'. I don't need a friend or family member shot instead of the bad guy.
It's funny (well....tragic) that the legalization/decriminalization models proposed around the world generally don't see governments getting into the weed biz, yet these clowns are jumping in with both feet to provide opportunities to create new corporate donors.
I'm sure Monsanto is looking to Canada right now as a legal way into the weed business.
The ACTUAL cost of my meds is easily under $1/gram because it's amortized over so many grows so why on earth would I buy it for $7.60 ?
I don't (and wouldn't) sell any and I break no (other) laws...I don't even speed lol. Yet, under the mandatory minimums, my family would be deprived of the income I can make only while using my meds. That's just plain bent.
THAT is what they are competing with, and at a difference of $200/month in my case, they aren't competing at all.
On my meds I am able work enough and squirrel away enough money to help pay for a period of incarceration should that happen. There's no reason that should be a 'life choice' (translate the Latin in my sig) for an otherwise law abiding conscientious citizen, but the only other option I have is things like Oxy...
It is what it is.
One thing that cracks me up is people like Surrey mayor Diane Watts talking about how the MMAR program has led to illegal sales etc, yet HC has the authority to inspect each and every medicinal grow whenever they want (read the fine print). Trouble is, for all of western Canada there are only THREE HC inspectors. There are 13,000 licenses in BC alone.
Once again, the con rationale is to penalize the poor and undermine the social programs their narrow-minded ideology won't let them support...they're doing the same thing with EI, Veterans Affairs, CPP, etc. It's exactly the same mentality that the Tea Party is using south of the border to try and defund Obamacare to starve it out of existence....regardless of what people want.
These cons are a default government and every move they make is another point for Justin as our next PM. At least they're willing to bring up the legalization issue, never mind simply acknowledging that it exists...
On a lighter note, it figures that it would be an NPR story: one of the few outlets that realizes there's an entire country to their north
Just as well they've prorogued parliament again, there are a pile of new Senate corruption issues to bury. What ever happened to Harpo's 'elected Senate' reform priority ?