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When the federal Liberals set a Canada Day 2018 deadline for marijuana legalization last weekend, they erected a new landmark in our country’s history. I do not refer to the proposed changes to the law; you would, after all, have to be crazy to take a Liberal promise of this kind to the bank. But whether or not the Liberals make their Cannabis Day target, its mere creation is bound to change the way we talk about pot.

Legalization is a reality now, something that has a birthday. Old canards, theories, and dreads are destined to get a last airing before we become preoccupied with concrete policy specifics — and then, when the unthinkable actually happens, we shall start having arguments based on actual data.

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Yes, fine, I’m probably kidding myself. But I am old enough to have seen several generations of dishonest, contrived arguments against marijuana legalization come and go. I’m not a big pot smoker, although it is a point of honour with me to admit in print that I have done it plenty of times. What I am is a news consumer. It will mean much more for my quality of life if we can progress one inch beyond the persistent bad faith and phoniness in the discussion — the disguised religious prejudices, the “I heard” and the “some say”, the endless pretending that marijuana isn’t socially ubiquitous.