The head of the Conservative Party of Canada says using marijuana should be a “personal choice”—even though he voted against the bill that legalized cannabis nationwide in his country that entitled adults to freedom from the threat of criminalization for consuming it.
In an interview on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast that was released on Thursday, Canadian Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre presented a philosophical idea about cannabis policy that the host said he appreciated as the two discussed their neighboring nations’ conflicting marijuana laws.
Rogan lamented the fact that while rules are being finalized to reschedule cannabis under U.S. law—with the backing of President Donald Trump—the reform wouldn’t federally legalize the plant as the Canadian government achieved under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of the Liberal Party in 2018.
“If alcohol is legal, marijuana is far safer—it should be legal. It’s ridiculous,” Rogan said. “It’s also a personal freedom thing. Leave people alone. No one’s robbing banks smoking weed and killing their neighbors. It’s crazy.”
Poilievre interjected that it’s “a personal choice thing.”
When it comes to cannabis, the role of government should be essentially the same as alcohol, Rogan said. That is, “Leave them alone.”
And the Canadian conservative leader agreed, saying “that’s my philosophy.”
“The bottom line is, if you cannot trust a man to govern himself, how can you trust him to govern for others?” Poilievre said. “If you think that human nature is so flawed that people cannot make decisions for themselves, then how could you possibly trust human nature to make decisions for other people—to impose decisions on their lives? And who watches the watchmen?”
“We’re constantly told we need to be kind of guided by these people from ivory towers. But who are these angels anyway? They’re just human beings like everyone else,” he said. “So when you give them more power, you give them the power to impose their will on people, then that ultimately gets abused.”
The two were aligning on a basic libertarian principle that treats government power with skepticism and scrutiny, while upholding individual liberty as an ideal that should not be infringed.
“So even you’re right—even when somebody is doing something that I don’t agree with, and I would think it would be better for all of us if they didn’t do it—the mal that is done by giving me the power to impose my decision-making on them is worse than the benefit of trying to direct them towards a better decision,” Poilievre said. “That’s my philosophy. It’s pretty simple. I think all the best things in life are simple.”
“You know, we overcomplicate things. Government is way too complicated. You know, I think we need to get back to the simplicity,” he continued. “The greatest speech in the English language was Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address—271 words. Einstein compressed mass and energy into a five-character equation. Bruce Lee was an advocate of simplicity.”
“Simplicity is is a virtue, and I think we have to get back to simplicity, especially in government,” Poilievre said. “Simpler, clearer, easier to manage.”
Rogan, evidently enamored with the lawmaker’s stated philosophy, said, “I think your message resonates with me,” and if he was Canadian, he’d “vote for you 100 percent.”
But philosophy aside, if Rogan had voted for Poilievre ahead of the Parliament’s vote to legalize marijuana, he would’ve cast his ballot for someone whose stated belief in personal freedom to use cannabis didn’t translate into support for the kind of reform that’s actually given Canadians that choice. Poilievre voted against the legislation, as StratCann noted after the interview with Rogan aired.
And while he’s said that a Conservative Party in control of the Canadian government wouldn’t move to reverse legalization under his leadership, he also sharply criticized a local pilot program in British Columbia to decriminalize possession of all currently illicit drugs, saying in 2023 that the policy change made the city of Vancouver a “hell on earth.”
Meanwhile, eight years after Canada enacted marijuana legalization, a nationally representative survey found that support for the reform is increasing over time. Relatively few Canadians want to legalize other drugs, however.
Roughly two-thirds of Canadian adults (65 percent) now say they agree with cannabis being legal, according to the survey from Research Co. That’s up three percentage points since the firm last polled on the topic in 2024.
A survey released last year also showed that a majority of Canadians feel the marijuana sector that’s emerged since cannabis was legalized nationwide is an “important contributor” to the country’s economy.
Canadians seem to recognize the value of the cannabis industry to the country’s overall financial health, with 59 percent describing the sector as a valuable component of the economy in the poll conducted by Abacus Data and commissioned by the cannabis company Organigram Global. That includes 69 percent of recent Liberal voters and 58 percent of recent Conservative voters.
When the research firm previously asked Canadians that question last April, 57 percent agreed about the importance of the marijuana market relative to the national economy, so this represents a slight increase.
Observers have also been watching how broader adult-use legalization impacts medical marijuana in Canada, noting, for example, patient enrollment rates declining after legalization was enacted but before retailers opened for business.
A study released in 2024, meanwhile, found similar marijuana use rates and support for legalization in both the U.S. and Canada despite the countries’ different national approaches to regulating the drug.
Another report found that marijuana legalization was “associated with a decline in beer sales,” suggesting a substitution effect where consumers shift from one product to the other.
Meanwhile, a separate survey out of Canada that was financially supported by the government recently found that youth marijuana use rates have declined after the country legalized cannabis—contradicting concerns voiced by prohibitionists.
A separate Canadian government report found that daily or near-daily use rates by both adults and youth have held steady over the last six years after the country enacted legalization.
