The fight to legalize marijuana appears to be being fought on a state by state front in the United States, with many states waiting to see what the others do before making any kind of decision. It makes for slow progress for those people in favor of legalizing marijuana for both medical and recreational use. It appeared that things were starting to move a little faster north of the border, with new Canadian PM Justin Trudeau already getting the ball rolling on legalizing weed there. It appears as though there may be some of the same situations arising there as in the US, though, as the provinces in Canada are taking their own stance on marijuana legalization.

There is no denying that Canada is ahead of the game in terms of marijuana legalization, but province leaders are still left feeling as though they are being pulled in different directions. The Ontario government has already placed a ban on selling vaporizers and e-cigs to anyone under 19 earlier this year, but there was some debate as to what to do about smoking such devices in public places. The general consensus seemed to be that medical marijuana users would be allowed to vape anywhere, but that now seems to not be the case.

Local businesses who operate establishments where smoking is prohibited made it clear that they did not want to interfere with people using a marijuana vaporizer for medical purposes. They did not want to be placed in the position of asking vapers to put their devices away, and seemed quite happy to allow the use of medical marijuana in their buildings. All signs pointed to the Ontario government being on board with that, but after feeling some pressure from the Canadian Cancer Society, it looks as though they are about to make a massive U-turn.

Ontario seems to be falling for the scaremongering tactics that claim second hand smoke from vapes to be just as harmful from that of cigarettes. The irony here is that it is the Canadian Cancer Society putting doubts in the heads of the politicians, as it is very often cancer patients who seek out marijuana to alleviate the pain and symptoms they have to suffer when battling this awful disease. This change in the legislation is sure to affect a large number of the 23,000 Canadians who have been prescribed medical marijuana.

The problem here, other than the flip flop by the Ontario government, is that they are now on the slippery slope that leads vapor kits and e-cigs being placed in the same category as tobacco. If that is what happens, then the restrictions that are being put in place with this change to the legislation will end up have a much farther reaching effect on those who use cannabis vapes to treat their various health ailments. The sooner Canada can have federal legislation in place, the better it will be for everyone who responsibly enjoys marijuana for either medical or recreational purposes.