A Conservative Canadian senator says the Trudeau government could end up enticing young people to smoke marijuana through subliminal messaging.
Saskatchewan Senator Denise Batters aired her concerns during a meeting of the Senate's legal and constitutional affairs committee currently studying Bill C-45, the federal government's cannabis legalization legislation.
As first reported by HuffPost Canada, Batters suggested the similarity of the pot leaf to the maple leaf was proof the Trudeau government isn't being truthful when claiming that cannabis will not be marketed to youth.
Health Canada said this week that all pot products will be sold in plain packaging, with a symbol shaped like a stop sign and adorned with a pot leaf warning people of the THC content inside.
Batters, however, saw something more sinister afoot.
“When I saw that symbol, I immediately thought ‘that looks like the Team Canada hockey logo.’ So I googled it,” she said.
Batters held up two different printouts of maple leaf logos used by Canada’s national hockey program.
“I guess you could have just put instead of ‘Canada’ here, ‘Cannabis.’”
“When I look at these, they’re the exact same colours. They look very, very similar,” she said, suggesting young people would naturally be drawn to anything associated with hockey.
Batters also shared her theory on Twitter on Wednesday evening, where it probably didn't get the response she was hoping for.
#Trudeau govt says #marijuana legalization law prohibits advertising "appealing to young people". Yet, image 1 is Health Canada-designed marijuana logo. Images 2 & 3 are @TeamCanada hockey logos. Exact colours. So similar. #NotAppealingToYouth? #C45 https://t.co/Htv7TagTuk
People had some questions for the senator.
.... are you smoking something? https://t.co/qJNJitpaAp
How exactly did she arrive at this conclusion?
@denisebatters @TeamCanada Live footage from Senator Batters' office. #cdnpoli
Many people pointed out that the pot symbol is shaped like a stop sign, the meaning of which isn't really ambiguous.
They literally made it the shape a stop sign. Literally. https://t.co/4Zm9suQvSz
Senator, can you please confirm that you know what a stop sign means?
Pray you're never crossing an intersection on foot as Denise Batters approaches it in her car. She'll see the stop sign and floor it! https://t.co/U3Q47tSQBX
Turns out there's a leaf on the Canadian flag, also. How deep does this conspiracy go???
It just occurred to the Canadian Senate that our national flag has a spiky leaf on it? https://t.co/wEBExgDMGl
Justin Trudeau's nefarious plan to get young people hooked on weed is already ruining people's lives.
Unfortunately I am no longer drug free because this cool logo that totally wasn’t done on MS Paint reminded me of hockey and tricked me into loving the devil’s lettuce https://t.co/PmoCqK5klG
Despite the wave of online mockery of her idea, Batters did not back down. In a follow-up tweet heavy with hashtags, she continued to insist the Trudeau government was putting children in harm's way.
"#Trudeau's #marijuana legalization law is #JustNotReady! It #DoesntProtectKids & jeopardizes Canadians' #MentalHealth, especially youth," she tweeted.