One hundred and ten years ago, the federal Opium Act of 1908 banned opium as a recreational drug and created a black market for the drug.
Alberta had illicit opium dens, frequently raided by the police.
In response, the government instituted severe criminal penalties in 1911 for the possession, sale and recreational use of opium, cocaine and morphine.
In 1916, liquor prohibition began in Alberta and, give or take a few months, across Canada.
Prohibition was the first substantial political victory of Canadian women who campaigned under the banner of “lips that touch liquor will never touch mine” -- the #metoo movement of the era.
In 1923, marijuana was added to the list of criminal drugs.
In 1973 when Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau commissioned Gerald Le Dain to examine the science and criminal law of non-medical use of drugs, severe fines and sentences were being handed down for marijuana trafficking and possession. They were often more severe than those given in 2018 for violent offences.
Since Le Dain recommended decriminalization of marijuana, there has been a successful campaign to legalize its sale and production.
There has been a parallel development in the black market production and sale of high-quality recreational pot.
The 40-year campaign culminated last Wednesday with the legalization of recreational marijuana under controls that match those for the sale of wine, beer and liquor.
The heavy taxation for legal cannabis provides the conditions for a black market for much less expensive marijuana that will be difficult to police, especially in rural Canada.
The legal production of marijuana has created a stock bubble.
The people who made the most money on Wednesday were the short sellers of marijuana stocks that tumbled because the reality of sales results with quarterly financial reports drowned out the hype.
Already, financial regulators are flagging the cannabis companies for their poor compliance practices. This market is ripe for controversy.
Hype is a kind word for the inflated claims surrounding the new Olds grow-op owned by Sundial Growers, Olds Softgels’ manufacturing of medical cannabis pills, and Crescent Enterprises which is planning a third small production plant.
The promoters of the Olds corridor compare it to Silicon Valley, which has hundreds of information technology programmers and producers and employs more people in research and development at much higher wages than the Olds cannabis corridor can dream.
The marijuana crop in Alberta will never equal the wealth and jobs that canola has created.
Olds and other Canadian marijuana centres are depending on world exports. What if that export market does not materialize?
If other countries legalize the marijuana market, why would entrepreneurs in those countries not build their own fairly simple and inexpensive production infrastructure?
Not so long ago, Alberta had a similar dream of becoming a world-leading manufacturer of wind power equipment, but Germany, Denmark, China, India, the United States and Spain already led the world.
What values and moral issues are at stake in legalization?
Those of conservative parents, teachers, doctors and police officers fear where this could lead.
For followers of all religions, the long-term result will be the further marginalization of faith in a de-sanctified culture.
Frank Dabbs is a veteran business and political journalist and author.
