One good, one bad

Today a couple of things happened:  Paul Bernardo was denied parole (good) and pot was legalized (bad). 

Ten minutes ago, Bernardo, the sexual sadist and murderer who maniacally took the life of two beautiful young women 25 years ago, was found with a shiv in his possession while incarcerated.  OMG!  Obviously, he should stay where he is.  He actually said in his parole hearing that he did it because he had low self esteem and had trouble with relationships!  OMG!  OK, so let's just kidnap, torture, rape and kill young women instead of getting help yourself.  The worst of it is that his partner in crime, Karla Homolka, has been out raising children of her own for years!  (I apologize for all the exclamation points, but nothing else seems adequate.)  

As to pot, I am not in favour.  I have known too many teenagers who got into big trouble with pot and lost complete control of their lives -- often ending up on the streets and into harder drugs.  To be clear, all the experts say it is very damaging to developing brains and causes life-long problems and I can tell you, from what I know, that's true.  Whatever happened to sneaking off in your parents' car with a cheap bottle of wine or a case of beer before you were of age?  That now seems so innocent and so long ago. 

The other problem is that tests on newborns in places where pot is legal show that half of them are born with grotesque levels of THC in their wee systems.  That's a crime.  All so sad, but we'll see more of that.  Their brains are being exposed to the drug while they are developing in utero -- just as my stepdaughter's two were while she smoked during her pregnancies -- and it will be no surprise when they take up smoking or toking when they get older because their neurons are hard-wired to it. 

Now, the nonsensical Trudeau is putting through pardons or expungements of those convicted of possession.  Why?  When they smoked it it was illegal and against the law, so why should they be pardoned now that it's legal?  It wasn't when they did it and they knew it.

Anyway, at least Bernardo won't be out wandering the streets.