Sex, Lies and...Weed

    I've been thinking a lot about current events lately. During my hours driving as a courier I've been tuning into AM 980 CKNW, Vancouver's News and Talk station. Three major topics have been dominating the discussion on the airwaves. Vancouver council's decision to regulate the over ninety medical marijuana dispensaries in the city proper, a direct affront to the Feds.  Two, the landmark Supreme Court ruling in the US of A legalizing gay marriage in all fifty states, and three, the Provincial government's scandalous firing of eight independent drug researchers three years ago which is now coming back to haunt them.

   I'll tackle the huge news about gay marriage first. I wrote a piece a while ago about my view on same sex unions [https://www.facebook.com/notes/daniel-conchie/god-is-my-judge-christians-and-gay-marriage/10153073681769079?pnref=lhc] and my opinion hasn't changed. What is interesting is seeing the wide array of reactions on social media.

  There is obvious joy and celebration, and general exuberance. A sense of vindication, if you will. I appreciate the fact that so many gay couples feel liberated and I can't help but feel happy for them. On the flip side is the sense of disappointment, moral outrage, and defeat felt by many conservative christians, Republicans and anti - gay activists. I can relate to that too since I was raised in that school of thought. Marriage is between a man and woman, homosexuality is a sin, and Christians are grieving on God's behalf as this is yet one more indication that the world is going to hell.

  My point of view is this: There are gay couples who genuinely love each other, have been in a relationship for years and have just been waiting, hoping, for a legal precedent to affirm their relationship. This is their day and I share their joy. There are also christians, who genuinely believe that God says that homosexuality is an abomination and yet are loving, gracious people who don't treat gays as second class citizens, respect them as people and yet firmly believe that they are living in sin. This ruling breaks their hearts, and I sympathize with them.

  On the opposite side of the fence now are the vindictive, militant, thin skinned, close minded gay activists who see this as just one more step to world domination. I may be hyperbolizing just a little but the fact is there are many such people out there who if not completely, certainly come close to meeting that description. The same can be applied to the extreme right, notably Westboro Baptist. These sorry excuses for human beings have nothing but hate in their hearts and on their minds, and will only believe justice is done when every single homosexual is roasting in hell.

  It may appear that I am of two minds about this, and that could be true. However, I see that the world is changing for better or for worse depending on your point of view and as a christian, the best thing I can do is not go out kicking and screaming but rather stay true to myself and my faith, and abide by Christ's greatest rule. LOVE. IF YOU STICK TO THAT ONE RULE, EVERYTHING WILL FALL INTO PLACE.

    As Ellen Degeneres tweeted: Love won.

                ....AND LOVE WILL WIN.

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   Changing topics now, let's explore this marijuana kerfuffle. Bruce Allen said it best on his Reality Check bit on CKNW. I'm paraphrasing...the fact that there are over ninety medical pot shops in Vancouver is ridiculous. There isn't a need for that many and there is an excess of supply vs. demand.

   Bruce is in favor of medical marijuana, and believes that the city is doing the right thing in regulating it if only to weed out the less reputable dispensaries only in it for the money.

  Another point of view expressed by Sean Leslie is that visitors to Van City could be forgiven for believing that pot is legal here when it is still a nationally banned controlled substance. The VPD aren't going to arrest anyone for smoking a joint and generally turn a blind eye to the dispensaries except in cases of public safety being compromised. As he said, marijuana is in de facto legal in Vancouver.

   I admit I've smoked a few joints in my time and huffed on a bong. The two fold results of that experimentation were that it didn't do anything for me ninety percent of the time and I became very paranoid one evening, an experience I don't wish to repeat. I couldn't care less for recreational pot nowadays and believe getting high is just a big, dumb waste of time.

   The therapeutic benefits of pot for people suffering from cancer, seizures, anxiety attacks and terminal pain are documented however and nothing to laugh at. When comparing a joint to many medications out there with a shit load of fucking nasty side effects, and the only side effect of weed is drifting off blissfully into a haze of relief, I find it hard to argue against it.

    Rona Ambrose, the Federal Health Minister would disagree however. In short, she's expressed deep disappointment with Vancouver city council for in effect condoning an illegal substance and has given repeated calls to the VPD to enforce the law and bust all these dispensaries littering the landscape. The police refuse to listen to her and the majority of opinions expressed about Ms. Ambrose and by extension the Federal Government are as follows: Wake up, you're out of touch, you have nice hair but nothing underneath, it's impossible to have an adult conversation with the Feds about drugs, the world is changing but they are hopelessly out of step and they are oblivious to the realities of BC, Vancouver in particular.

    I can just picture Harper and his close associates discussing the debacle and saying, "Geez, what a pain in the ass BC is being. The majority of Canada agrees with our hardline approach to drugs, and we're not going to lose any votes on the issue, but pothead Vancouver is flouting a sensible law and in effect giving us the finger. Can't we just march in and quash this irritating rebellion?"

   Now just to be clear I am not a pot advocate. I don't smoke it, and dislike its skunky smell. I do believe though that are real benefits to medicinal pot and that the Harper government should start thinking outside of the box and seriously consider treating this issue differently, because it sure as heck isn't going away and with it already legal in Washington and Colorado its only a matter of time before the rest of the dominos start to collapse.

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   Finally a story that quite literally gives me a chill about the Provincial government. Three years ago, eight researchers conducting tests on prescription medicines were summarily suspended, interrogated and fired all because of a suspected data breach. The people targeted were highly professional, experienced, intelligent researchers with supposedly ironclad contracts backed by the BCGEU (government employees union). Now anybody in a union or experience with one knows how difficult and how many hoops have to be jumped through to fire a union member. All eight firings were conducted in a manner more reminiscent of the Homeland Security approach to terrorists, with all legal rights suspended. I mentioned interrogation and yes, no two ways about it, every single person was grilled, so much so that there was a reported case of an extreme anxiety attack which forced one of these "interviews" to be halted.

   One of the terrible outcomes of this kangaroo court was the suicide of one researcher after he was sacked.

     A two year investigation followed conducted in house by the government with the report given to the RCMP to confirm whether any of these researchers could be criminally charged. Within the last day or two, the RCMP came back saying there was no evidence of any wrongdoing by any of the researchers. This in effect topples the leg the government was standing on by way of refusing any comments due to the fact that the matter is under investigation.

    An open letter was sent to Terry Lake, the Provincial Health Minister written by the researchers and sister of the one who committed suicide stating that they would forgo any privacy concerns and be completely open to a public inquiry to find out why and how this all went down.

   Ever since this scandal broke, the government has steadfastly refused, denied and flat out said no to any possibility of a public inquiry. Their excuse: We apologized, reinstated some of the researchers, paid out settlements and basically washed our hands of this. A public inquiry would be lengthy, costly and have a slim chance of coming to a satisfactory resolution. Oh yeah, and it would compromise the privacy of a select few civil servants. My guess? These civil servants are to blame and the government's shielding them.

   This facade crumbled just a little though after the RCMP stated that there was no wrong doing on part of the researchers, and guess what, the government didn't give the RCMP any evidence for the entire two years other than the report.

    Terry Lake has now said he's leaving the door open to an independent public inquiry though he still has concerns about cost and privacy.

    This whole debacle just sickens me. The rottenness of politics exposed and the subsequent ass covering, lying and total disregard for people and their livelihoods is a disgrace.

    I hope a fair, timely and definitive investigation is conducted and the lily livered, shiny shoed, shirt and tie bureaucrats responsible for ruining these lives are caught with their pants down, red handed and severely disciplined for their callousness and pure fucking vindictive evilness.