Canada has taken its first huge steps into the legalisation of marijuana.
The Canadian government will hope to announce the legalisation of cannabis (aka pot, aka indo, aka ‘that shit’, aka food, aka whatever you guys call it) by July 1 next year.
According to CBC News, the announcement will be made around April 10, however the legislation will be closely based on the ‘recommendation of a federally appointed task force’ chaired by the former liberal Justice Minister Anne McLellan.
The federal government will take responsibility for making sure that the marijuana supply is both safe and secure whilst the federal government will also license its producers. However, each Canadian province will decide how the product will be distributed and sold and will get to decide the price you pay for weed.
The federal government has also set the minimum age to buy weed at 18 years old, however other areas of the country will also get the option to set the age limit much higher. So bad news for anyone under the age of 18.
As for those of the horticulturist variety, households will be allowed to grow their own weed but limited to only four plants per household.
The legislation of marijuana falls under one of the more controversial pledges from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (who is now the most famous Justin ever – beating the likes of Timberlake and Bieber) during his campaign for office. However his party argued that it was important to see the legalisation of marijuana to ‘regulate and restrict access’.
They also stated that it would keep drugs:
… out of the hands of children, and the profits out of the hands of criminals.
However, Prime Minister Trudeau doesn’t want Canadians to celebrate too early as he predicts a rough timetable to get a “framework to control and regulate marijuana.”
Therefore ‘the current laws apply’ still, so anyone thinking they can just casually spark up a joint in the middle of the street will kindly get their arse thrown in a Canadian jail cell. For now…
