Paean To Progress

There, the deed is done legislatively
and recreational cannabis is now legal
in Canada, joining its sister-legality of
some duration in medical use of the drug.
A drug, yes, a psychotropic drug whose
measure of ruination throughout history
in all societies which it has graced has
been a nightmare of dysfunction and
death. But look at the optics here, the
very signature of the industry where
workers in these 'labs' producing vast
amounts of marijuana wear what else?
why white laboratory coats; see the
resemblance to the medical community
and if we trust hospitals and doctors with
the symbolic health of a nation, why not
perforce others wearing those badges of
trustworthiness, even if the motivation is
building a legitimate new industry whose
profits will be stupendous both for those
growing and purveying the stuff and for
governments permitting its social use
whose revenues will soar into the ether.
As for unintended consequences, well
reality is there are always misfortunes
and no one can be assured safety and
security measures will work in all and
sundry circumstances so youth's promise
can be cerebrally dulled, and infants can
be hospitalized with toxicity and the family
pet can be presented for resuscitation at
the nearby vet's, but a popular and much
vaunted perspective has been validated
freeing up peoples' self-consciousness to
another more relaxed dimension all thanks
to a man whose scruples and function
celebrate diversity and liberalizing progress 
Canada now distinguished, a stoned nation.