I want to let you know that I grew up, I believe, similarly to you. A well-to-do Catholic family that kept up with Jones’s, took family photos on the front porch, urged me take piano and ballet because those were ‘girl’ sports.  An affluent family who taught me that Marijuana was for hippy losers that wore weird mulit-coloured Baja jackets and carried their bongs in World famous backpacks.  They had towels or marijuana leaf flags in place of curtains, kept their hair unwashed, hitchhiked alot, and had a tendency to be lazy.  I am who I am today because of those wonderful parents of mine, and although I may not agree with their methods now, they are the greatest people on earth, that did their best to ensure I turned out to be a successful, independent, strong, woman, and that is exactly who I am.  In their defense, I am sure they were inundated with racism as children, and managed to break free of this poison, as I am doing today.

Given my upbringing though, you can imagine my reaction when the first person told me that marijuana was being used to kill Cancerous Cells.  To ease pain, to stop the effects of Parkinson’s, and cancel seizures.  I’m sure there was an eye roll in there somewhere, and I thought ‘then why is it illegal?’.  I mean, alcohol and tobacco are Legal and they do nothing but kill you, so marijuana HAS to be ten times worse if it remains against the law, right?

Wrong.  

Marijuana is making life easier, even enjoyable to incredibly ill, pain filled people.  Families are flocking to Colorado so their children can go to school safely without seizures, and certain types of cancerous cells are retreating inside people given mere months to live.  I know you know this.  Google is everyone’s best friend these days, and as Saint John has the highest cancer rate per capita in Canada, I imagine it’s come across your news feed from time to time.

I had the unfortunate pleasure of witnessing this truth about eight years ago.  My father in law had been given months to live, and was eeking out his last days on a feeding tube.  He tried a certain marijuana infused oil, at the urging of his doctor, in his feeding tube and was able to come visit me in Ontario, living long past expectancy - two years or so.  I was embarrased to tell people how he was still alive, to be honest, even though those few years were a gift from every God.  When you think you have mere days to show someone how important they are, how much they are loved, and how their legacy will live on - it’s never enough time, but my father in law lived on and we were able to take the time to focus on loving just him.

It was then, in my mind, I became a huge advocate for the legalization of marijuana.  Upbringing be damned, I saw it with my own eyes.  Slightly embarrassed to be vocal, slightly humiliated to shout it, in my head I was an advocate, in my actions I was a quiet, mediocre opinion.

When these stores started cropping up, selling ONLY to those with prescriptions you said you had ‘bigger fish to fry’.  Did you do your due diligence and make sure the doctors were legitimate?  Did you pop in from time to time to ensure they weren’t selling to minors?  Did you sit down with their customers and hear their stories about being off over 10 prescription drugs thanks to cannabis oil, or how they no longer shake and can email their grandchildren again?

No.  You didn’t.  You said you didn’t need to.  I wonder what has changed?  Are all of your crimes solved? Your bigger fish are behind bars? Did you get the bank robber, the recent mugger, and the domestic abusers all locked up?  Now, I don’t want to accuse you, but perhaps you were informed that NB liquor is going after the monopoly of marijuana sales once it’s legal?  Co-incidentally, your raid came two days after this news was released.

I get it. It’s still illegal to sell, unless you have permission to grow it, and then you HAVE to mail it to your customers.  (Saying it like that seems silly, doesn’t it?) Your officers were doing their job upholding the law, and I commend them for a job well done.  From what I hear they were, respectable, nice and kind.  They followed your orders, and we pay them to do just that.  I have nothing against our finest.  They’ve always been great to me, and I believe they are underpaid heroes.

You cited in your statement that Ottawa raided two dispensaries recently, but what you failed to mention is that they are both re-open now, and with the blessing of local politicians. The police, and I quote, “ensured that they were only selling to those with a legal prescription,” and intended to change the community perception regarding these types of stores.  There are currently eight running marijuana dispensaries in Ottawa, by the way.  If you are, as you indirectly mentioned, following Ottawa’s footsteps - are your plans the same?

Do you know the steps these businesses have to take?  Did you offer your assistance because you understand they are trying to introduce plants instead of liver killing pills to those in need?

I know that most have to say that you did a great job this week, but I am sure, under the covers they are thinking that you look silly.  Most of us know someone whose life has been significantly improved by the stores you just shut down, and I ask you - what answer do you have for YOUR community members when they ask “where do I get my medication now?”.

Because the recalls of the shop you quoted to be legal in Moncton are staggering due to their use of pesticides, (eight seconds on Google taught me that) which is why these shops cropped up in the first place.  They are helping people, John, in incredible, beautiful ways that have never been done before.  That’s it. It’s not giving crackheads methadone (legal), or alcoholics more booze (also legal), or smokers more life ending tobacco (legal, legal, legal), it’s just helping the ill.  

There are so many different things you could have done here, and the snob in me thinks what you did was right, but the human in me has a broken heart for the freedom stolen from those who will continue to seizure, shake, and have their cancerous cells increase because of you, and one crappy day.

To cheesily quote George Orwell….. 

“How does one man assert his power over another, Winston?“

Winston thought. “By making him suffer”, he said.

It didn’t feel like “upholding the law” to me.

Sincerely,

a girl who just came out from under the covers…..