The Idea to Legalize Marijuana: a Double-edged Sword

It has been almost a year now since Canadian government has legalized marijuana last year October. The Canadian government has enacted the legalization to control the production, distribution, sale and possession of cannabis across Canada by creating a strict legal framework. The policy is also mainly expected to accomplish 3 goals:

• keep cannabis out of the hands of youth
• keep profits out of the pockets of criminals
• protect public health and safety by allowing adults access to legal cannabis.

Since it is around the corner to meet its first year after its inception, the legalization of marijuana has become one of the most divisive social issues, and result of the legalization became mainly discussed topic. From the investigation, it is found that there are three different media outlets where they have spotlighted the Cannabis Act with their own political perspectives, CNN, National Post, and Washington Post. While CNN has focused on the success of protected youth from marijuana, National Post spots on several failures of the law, and Washington Post informs the readers that the black market of cannabis is still existing. Since it is premature to talk about the outcome yet, hopefully it would help people understand the legalization of marijuana, organize their thoughts about the issue by reading this essay thinking beyond what is written and being aware of propaganda.

First of all, CNN has shown a supportive perspective to the government as the act of legalization has worked effectively to keep children away from the drug. CNN reports that since the cannabis business is controlled by public with strict policies and legal-selling marijuana is taxed lower than the black market, it is expected be easier to separate the youth from the illegal distribution of marijuana. The overall tone of CNN’s article is positive and supportive about the act of legalizing marijuana.

The article constantly mentions about the possibility to legalize marijuana that it would bring successful outcomes and meet the accomplishment, protecting youth from the drug use. For instance, it gives Portugal’s case as succeeded example. When all drugs were decriminalized in Portugal, it brought the decrease of the harms from drug use like health impacts or associated crime. Moreover, the word selection also implies a tendency to advocate policy like the title of the article.

“Legalizing cannabis is the best way to protect kids from its harmful effects”. In overall, CNN was one of the leading media outlets that responded positively to the legalization of marijuana.

However, the other two investigated media outlets have reported starkly opposite stories than CNN. Contrary to earlier reports from CNN, National Post reported the overall harms of marijuana legalization policy, while the Washington Post reported the existence of a black market that is impervious to legalization.

Firstly, National Post has struck a counterpoint to defending the government by spotting several failure of the legalization. It is reported that economic growth has met the expectation, and it is predicted to cause the increase of car crashes and overdosed children by extreme marijuana exposure. For the economic side of it, it is expected to happen for Ontario’s government-run pot stores to rack up losses of $48 million over the first two years. Even by 2021, Ontario pot revenue will only be about $100 million per year which could cover only six hours’ worth of provincial spending.

Moreover, the Washington Post has shown its critical perspective as well on the legalization of cannabis by reporting the failure of restriction on black market. The government has claimed strongly that by bringing the marijuana industry to legal side of the society, they expect the end of black market and criminal profits. However, it has actually turned out that it has brought more success on the marijuana black market as prepared stock of legal marijuana was not enough to fulfill the demand.

The common factor of foregoing two media outlets is that by reporting the counter issues on major expectations of the policy, it reveals the critical aspect about the government and the policy. Unlike any other articles with supportive aspect, this method of critic could help the public to consume the governmental and political issue more diversely with better understanding.

To conclude, it is shown that media is not only just a way of transforming information, but also the message itself that decides how the public would be informed differently by the example of marijuana legalization. Therefore, each individual would consume the flood of information and medias nowadays with diverse aspects and understand of underlined political bias.

Work Cited

1. Hur 4 “Cannabis Legalization and Regulation.” Government of Canada, Department of Justice, Electronic Communications, 17 Oct. 2018, www.justice.gc.ca/eng/cj-jp/ cannabis/.
2. Chivers, Tom. “Legalizing Cannabis Is the Best Way to Protect Kids.” CNN, Cable News Network, 17 Oct. 2018, www.cnn.com/2018/10/17/opinions/canadiancannabis-legalization-chivers-opinion-intl/index.html. Accessed 23 June 2019.
3. Hopper, Tristin. “The Unexpected Consequences Now That Cannabis Is Legal: Alcohol Could Become Taboo.” National Post, National Post, 17 Oct. 2018, https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/more-stoned-dogs-the-unexpectedconsequences-canada-can-expect-from-pot-legalization. Accessed 23 June 2019.
4. Ross, Selena. “Canada Legalized Pot in October. But Its Black Market Is Still Going Strong.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 5 Jan. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/canada-legalized-pot-in-octoberbut-its-black-market-is-still-going-strong/2019/01/04/ca09a3b0-fe53-11e8-a17e- 162b712e8fc2_story.html?utm_term=.dc4dd17798fa. Accessed 23 June 2019.