Perception of cannabis users in debates over legalization in Canada
In this article, we ask ourselves about one aspect of the debates that have taken place during the legalization of cannabis in Canada, namely the distinction between authorized users of cannabis for medical purposes, and users targeted by this legalization, which many people in the debates have characterized as recreational or non-medical users. The goal is to understand how the construction of cannabis users in two distinct categories, long before these debates, influenced how to design the problems to be solved in this legislative process (federal, provincial, territorial and municipal laws and regulations) and the proposed solutions. We first address the origin of this distinction, which has created an artificial division between two categories of users, one whose uses are legitimate, the other whose uses remain suspect, because this access to cannabis for therapeutic purposes occurred at a time when other uses remained prohibited. Subsequently, we see how this distinction, on the one hand, blinded the effects of the cannabis industry on the cannabis market that was about to develop. On the other hand, this distinction has ensured that, in response to the public’s fears about these recreational users, the objective and strategies of tobacco policies have been given priority towards these consumers. Thus, at the federal level, the legalization of cannabis was presented as a way of controlling this use in a more efficient way than prohibition, and at the provincial, territorial and municipal level, prohibitions on the use of smoked cannabis have spread in a large number of public places. At the same time, governments called for an appropriate accommodation of authorized cannabis users for medical purposes in workplaces and institutions and ensured that the penalties for cannabis and driving were not abusive to them.