Marijuana Use in Canada-Us Relations

In “Canadian cannabis: Marijuana as an irritant/problem in Canada-US relations” Paul Gecelovsky describes the issues of marijuana cultivation and trafficking in Canada and the US and makes comparisons concerning the regulations that govern marijuana usage between the two countries. His purpose is to bring awareness to people the issues and consequences associated with marijuana cultivation ownership. Gecelovsky references different chronological events and statistics in order to demonstrate suggestions that point to the weakness in Canadian laws concerning the possession of marijuana – laws that are resulting in the weakening of Canadian-US relations. His main proposition is that the sharp increase of marijuana cultivation in Canada and trafficking to the US is of major concern to many Americans, emphasizing that Canadians are out of poise with their negligent policies as compared to Americans.

Gecelovsky offers some contextual information about the cultivation and amount of marijuana exported to the US from Canada, with some of the key provinces including Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia. He shifts his focus towards British Columbia, as he states that it is “the largest source of marijuana, accounting for about 40% of all growing operations in Canada during 2003, as well as having the highest rate of cultivation incidents at 79 per 100,000 people” (234). By this statistic, he demonstrates that Canadian law often tolerates the possession of cannabis, even though the legal status of the drug is often disputed and toyed with. British Columbia is a major concern regarding the marijuana industry, as Gecelovsky states that, “there has been a sharp rise in the smuggling of marijuana into the US from Canada, which resulted in the tripling of the number of seizures and the volume of marijuana seized” (234). British Columbia stands out as not only controlling the largest marijuana industry in Canada, but also having the highest marijuana potency, being a “marijuana