CANADA – Newly elected Liberal government is on the verge of legalizing marijuana, thousands of Hells Angels members have stormed the Parliament yesterday to protest the new proposition.
The spokesman for the Canadian chapter of the Hells Angels, Jean-Roch said : “The legalization of marijuana could cost the organized crime hundreds of thousands of jobs”.
“Prime minister Justin Trudeau’s radical proposition to legalize marijuana could cost us over a hundred thousand jobs” says the former lawyer. “From growing operations, to trimming, packaging, transportation and selling, this new legislature will threaten the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of Canadian workers” he warns.
A recent study by the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University reveals the legalization of marijuana could bring in between 5 to 12 billion dollars to the Canadian economy each year.
“According to our research Canadian pot industry is worth between $5 billion and $12 billion a year” explains Economics professor, Zahir Malik. “Legalization of marijuana will cause major profit losses to organized crime organizations nation-wide” he told local reporters.
Many members of organized crime fear they will lose their way of life if legalization is implemented.
“I’ve been selling weed since I’m 12 years old” admits a 56 year-old Hells Angels member. “Do you think I’m going to want to go work at Wal-Mart or McDonalds at minimal wage? I don’t think so” he told reporters.
“Who’s going to want to give me a job? I’ve got tattoos all over my body and all over my face” asks another protester, condemned in 1977 for triple homicide. “It’s not the job of the federal government to regulate illegal drugs, they should take care of their own business and leave that to us” he argues.
If marijuana were legalized in Canada, it would be a first among developed nations. In the US, four states and Washington, DC, have legalized pot, but it is still illegal at the federal level.
