Edmonton lights up with legal marijuana
So, like every media outlet in Edmonton, I go to cover the first day of cannabis being legal in Canada – and literally the first guy I run into is Ibrahim Shurie, a youth worker with the Somali Canadian Cultural Society of Edmonton.
He wants to know why there’s such a big line-up in a shopping plaza around 95 Street and 117 Avenue. He has no idea.
“Marijuana store,” I tell him. “Today’s the day!”
He pulls a frown. “Oh, very big problem, for our kids” he says. “Before, the kids would hide it from you. But today they won’t hide it – because it’s legal. Trudeau made a wrong decision.” Asked if it’s just the same as alcohol or cigarettes, Shurie replies, “It’s not the same. These are drugs. Real drugs.”
Yes, let’s remember: these are drugs. When people used to ask “got any drugs?” nine times out of 10 they were talking about weed.
But one dissenting voice did little to harsh the mellow of the eager customers in the line-up at NUMO Cannabis – one of six cannabis stores that were open in Edmonton on 10/17. There were maybe 150 people in line for the 10 am opening. Some were actually smoking pot while they waited. Some got paranoid at what appeared to be a group to protesters approaching (it wasn’t). And a few people had been there since 8:30 (and many would be there a lot longer due not only to high demand, but technical difficulties with the payment system).
As the big moment approached, NUMO bud-tender Laura Kemp came out to rally the customers – “First day! First day! New world, guys, new world!” – and high-fived the first dozen people on the way in. People were cheering. Kemp shouted, “Here we are! We did it! It’s been a lifetime of waiting! No more sneaking around! No more backroom deals!”
There was general agreement.
TV camera crews arrived a little while later, and we all stood outside the exit door waiting to interview the first person in Canadian history to buy legal cannabis … in Edmonton, at this particular store. It took a while.
Eventually the guy who had been first in line came out: Jason Bend, 37 – and he gave a glowing review, “The experience was really nice. They’re a smart crowd, and have nice clean store, you go in there and pick your strain – and I never really had the opportunity to do that before. It was a great experience overall. The time took a little bit, but first day hiccups like anything else.”
On paying higher prices than on the black market – $85 for nine grams of Aurora’s “Blue Dream” in this case – Bend says that’s OK: “I will support legalization. The black market is good, but in there I know how much THC it has, I know where it comes from, and I know who’s being supported.”
Like most of the customers polled, Bend says his habits aren’t going to change.
“I was responsible cannabis user before this started,” he says. “I am going to continue to be a responsible cannabis user. I wasn’t just smoking blunts walking down the street in front of the kids – I’m still not going to do that. Nothing’s going to change about my cannabis usage – and I think most of the people in that line would feel the same.”
Bend was one of the only departing customers who gave his full name, or agreed to be photographed (he also works in the cannabis industry, so it’s not like he’s going to get fired). Most of the others snuck away with their discrete black bags laden with I-can’t-believe-it’s-legal marijuana, as if they’d just gone to meet their dealer in some dodgy location. This will take some getting used to.
Now the government is your dealer! It may still take a while for Canadian society to “come down” from decades of stigma, of having to “be cool” about cannabis, weed, pot, grass, blunts, joints, ganja, kush, reefer, you can pick your own strain. Now all we have to do is “shake” off all these terrible marijuana puns.
