Stephen Harper says a majority of Canadians agree with his opposition to legalizing marijuana, proving he’s not behind the times on the way forward on pot.

A government opinion poll released one year ago found that more than two-thirds of Canadians wanted the federal government to ease the laws around possession and use of cannabis, with about 14 per cent saying the laws should stay the same.

Harper says changing those laws would reverse what he calls a decline in marijuana usage in Canada. In jurisdictions where marijuana is legal, such as parts of the U.S. and Europe, the drug becomes “more readily available to children, more people become addicted,” and there is a decline in health outcomes, the Conservative leader said Tuesday.

“We just think that’s the wrong direction for society and I don’t think that’s the way most Canadians want to deal with this particular problem.”

The tough-on-drugs message is one the Conservatives have been using for months to drive a wedge between Harper and his opponents — most particularly the Liberals and leader Justin Trudeau.

On Monday, Harper told party faithful the opposition parties want to legalize marijuana and prostitution, and make it easier to have supervised injection sites — all of which Harper said his party opposed.

The Conservatives promised Tuesday that, if re-elected, the would spend almost $27 million a year to help he RCMP root out drug labs and change the focus of the national mental health commission that it created in 2007. The campaign pledge would see an extra $4.5 million per year, on top of the $22 million currently budgeted, for an RCMP team designed to crack down on illegal drug labs and marijuana grow-ops.

Instead, it would focus on finding links between drugs and mental health issues, a departure from its current mandate of “working to reduce stigma,” “advancing knowledge” in mental health and helping homeless people with mental health problems.
Harper will be travelling to Vancouver later Tuesday, landing in the city with Canada’s first supervised injection site.

Continue Reading.

In short Harper plans to accelerate the war on drugs in Canada and ignore the will of the public (and the police) on marijuana laws.

“The Conservatives promised Tuesday that, if re-elected, the would spend almost $27 million a year to help he RCMP root out drug labs and change the focus of the national mental health commission that it created in 2007…

…. Instead, it would focus on finding links between drugs and mental health issues, a departure from its current mandate of “working to reduce stigma,” “advancing knowledge” in mental health and helping homeless people with mental health problems.”

This isn’t only bullshit it’s DANGEROUS bullshit. Drugs do not cause mental illness. This is madness. PLEASE MY FELLOW CANADIANS SHOW UP TO THE POLLS OCTOBER 19TH. PLEASE PLEASE VOTE. 

OH NO HE DIDN’T.

I have a fucking stake in Canadian mental health policy frameworks, from my PhfuckingD research to the work I want to do in the goddamned future.

I’ll be fucked if some asshole goes from ‘reducing stigma’ (however ineffective that is, given a culture that stigmatizes difference like crazy) to ‘let’s escalate the war on drugs AND target people with mental illness!!!!’

FUCK NO.

SHIT. I’M ACTUALLY RAGING RIGHT NOW.

Do you - do you know how many fucking people are gonna be impacted under this, if he reframes…

FUCK THIS SHIT.