On Wednesday, Canadians were able to legally buy marijuana for recreational use. Each province has the authority to set limits on when and where cannabis is sold. There were long lines in many locations, and the biggest glitch so far is demand outstripping supply. The above picture is from Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, where marijuana is being sold through the state-controlled liquor stores. The main joke is how the sales at the nearby McDonald's is going to soar.
45 minutes from the opening, lineup to grab some of the first legal cannabis sold in Montreal is getting quite long. pic.twitter.com/j5F5aUfoYN
— Dan Spector (@danspector) October 17, 2018
By noon, the store on Ste-Catherine Street in Montreal had a line that spanned two blocks.
This picture was taken somewhere in Saskatchewan.
Prehistoric vibes on a historic day pic.twitter.com/tjeSHLsfOE
— Andrea Ross (@_rossandrea) October 17, 2018
A T-rex showed up to lighten the mood in the line at Nova Cannabis in Edmonton, Alberta.
The line at the Kamloops BC Cannabis Store as of 2:40pm. Been a non-stop line since they opened. #CannabisLegalisation #canada pic.twitter.com/WQJm0yLBJy
— Lasia Kretzel (@lkretzel1130) October 17, 2018
Only one store in British Columbia is selling pot, and that outlet in Kamloops only received their license the day before. BC residents can also order online. Officials believe lines will become shorter over time, although it may take a while for legal cannabis outlets to accurately estimate the inventory they need.
Numbers aside, we as a society make choices all the time about whether it is better to let people do things at the cost of more accidents. We could also reduce risks of injuries from car accident by madating helmets for all driver's, but that is rarely popular and over the line for most.
I have no interest in using marijuana, even though I live in Canada now. But I am also not thrilled about the amount of money and manpower the government had used on criminalizing drugs, which causes quite a bit of harm itself without addressing actual problems leading to drug abuse. There are other options (e.g. Portugal's approach), and the always on going discussion of how society handles something that most people manage okay with while a subset has problems with abuse.