Canada is only months away from legalizing and regulating the production, sale and use of cannabis for medicinal and recreational purposes. Yet, as we explore in our cover story this issue, the plan is rife with contradictions: a fledgling industry populated by former police chiefs; the fact bills C-45 and C-46 will create dozens of new pot-related offences in the process of removing some of the old ones; the continued prohibition on growing more than four or five plants at home while Canada's "licensed producers" are expected to make billions. Most importantly, there is the injustice of all this newfound freedom and money-making taking place on the backs of people who remain behind bars, or stuck with criminal records, for engaging in what will soon be a considered a legitimate business.
In this issue:
- Prometheus re-bound: Marijuana activist John Akpata tries to make sense of Canada's cannabis capitalism
- Crisis at the pharmacy: Joel Lexchin wants to sever the links between high prescription drug costs, big profits and poor health outcomes
- The ghost investor: In her Below the Fold column, Cynthia Khoo assesses internet industry denial about the public foundation of their success
- Come together for pension justice: Benjamin Christensen recounts the history and possible future of retirement security in Canada
- Today's coders, tomorrow's precariat? In her Work Life column, Lynne Fernandez pokes holes in the jobs-of-the-future narrative
To receive the Monitor at home, please make a donation to the CCPA.
Cover illustration by Kara Sievewright