Canada to legalise marijuana 'by 2018'

[zenkai]

Source

Recreational marijuana use could be legal in Canada by 1 July 2018 under coming legislation, according to reports.

The federal government will table legislation to legalise marijuana by April, public broadcaster CBC is reporting.

Sources told the CBC that members of the governing Liberal party were recently briefed on the timeline.

The party has long promised they would have legislation ready by spring.

The CBC said the new regulations would broadly follow recommendations released in December by a federally-appointed pot task force.

Those recommendations included proposals that Canada should permit the sale of recreational marijuana to people over age 18 and tax pot products based on potency.

Media captionThe future of cannabis retail: Seedy head shops could soon be a thing of the past

The task force also recommended adults be allowed to grow up to four plants and possess 30 grams of dried cannabis.

According to the CBC, the federal government will oversee the supply of the drug and continue to license producers, while the provinces would determine its means of distribution and sale.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's promise to legalise recreational marijuana has fuelled investment and speculation in the cannabis sector.

Cultivators like Aphria, OrganiGram Holdings, and Canopy Growth, currently Canada's largest medical marijuana producer, have become stock market darlings.

Medical marijuana has been legal in Canada since 2001 and is grown by 40 federally licensed producers.

¹Canadians, especially the young, are among the world's biggest users of marijuana.

Ottawa says legal pot under a new strict regulation regime will make it easier to keep it away from young people, to pull profits from organised crime, to reduce the burden on police and the justice system, and to improve public health.

If the law is passed, Canada will be the largest developed country to end recreational marijuana prohibition.

I have to give Canada this, I don't see a problem with it but it should be heavily warned and well known that pot use has been shown to have a negative affect on developing brains, since it will be even easier for young people to have access to it.


¹ This explains a lot

[GennGreymane]

I wonder if legalization happened in the US as a whole, how drastic of a change we would have in crime statistics.

[zenkai]

I wonder if legalization happened in the US as a whole, how drastic of a change we would have in crime statistics.

Maybe people would chose it over harder drugs. Who needs meth when you can laugh at cartoons all day.

I need to buy stock in Doritos and Taco Bell.

[GennGreymane]

Maybe people would chose it over harder drugs. Who needs meth when you can laugh at cartoons all day.

I need to buy stock in Doritos and Taco Bell.

yaaaaaassssssss 7/11 too

all snacks

[Kathandira]

Canada, please stop giving more reasons to migrate to you!

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yaaaaaassssssss 7/11 too

all snacks

And Dutch Master.

[Kujako]

Great... now we'll have ANOTHER drug war front.

[Puupi]

Great... now we'll have ANOTHER drug war front.

Tough life!

[Yvaelle]

Great... now we'll have ANOTHER drug war front.

Not really though, lots of US pot is grown in the US. Same is true for US meth IIRC.

The sorts of drugs where you have drug wars are when you need to import it - heroin, cocaine, etc.
Why risk illegally shipping BC bud to Washington, when you can legally buy BC bud seeds and grow them in Washington?

I wholly support legalization, regulation, taxation, etc - of marijuana in Canada (PS. I don't smoke). The economic and policing arguments alone should be enough to sway any rational person. It's a huge (black market) sector of the BC economy, it would be a significant boost to tax revenue, which would reduce burden on other taxes and/or increase value add from government services.

Nothing has succeeded in reducing consumption even slightly, and about half of all police efforts still go toward marijuana in BC - which is a hilarious and colossal waste of time. We still send people (primarily dealers) to prison, and effect permanent records - none of which benefits society.

Virtually all criminal syndicates operating in BC are drug-funded, marijuana is their biggest cash crop - legalizing it would potentially make them financially unstable. They would be pushed into dealing only the harder drugs, because suddenly all their expenses on security (gunz and chainlink fences), avoiding the cops, bling, etc - becomes burdensome overhead when competing against both the big agricultural pot farms (economy of scale), and the local hippie with a big greenhouse (~no overhead, ~no labor). So suddenly all they are left with is shit like meth and fentanyl and cocaine - and nobody wants that shit when you have safe (regulated), legal, world-class pot, at low cost: legalizing pot breaks the entire criminal drug business model. The same way that legalizing alcohol ended the alcohol cartels under prohibition.

That's three great reasons to legalize pot in Canada IMO - without even going into the hazy space of the possible biological impact (which the science is pretty conclusive on, but Reefer Madness still has a strong sway even here amongst older generations).

[Vivapin8]

Great... now we'll have ANOTHER drug war front.

Rofl now i imagine moose carrying weed to the US

[Acidbaron]

Wish it would happen in Belgium also, it's pointless to keep it banned. It cost too much and it's completely in criminal hands.

Just let people who grow it already start companies legally. Alcohol is fucking worse and a shit load more addictive and harmful.

[Aquinan]

Wish it would happen in Belgium also, it's pointless to keep it banned. It cost too much and it's completely in criminal hands.

Just let people who grow it already start companies legally. Alcohol is fucking worse and a shit load more addictive and harmful.

IKR imagine inventing alcohol now and trying to get it legalised.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

I have to give Canada this, I don't see a problem with it but it should be heavily warned and well known that pot use has been shown to have a negative affect on developing brains, since it will be even easier for young people to have access to it.

I imagine the Marijuana "packs" will be sold in containers marked similarly to the way we mark Cigarettes here:



It's not exactly difficult for the youngin's to get pot right now here anyway though. Marijuana is already decriminalized here...legalization is just the next step. At least this way they don't have to worry about it being laced with fentanyl or other scary shit.

[Jotaux]

I never understood the argument that legalizing marijuana would make it more accessible to our youth. Though I have never done any kind of drugs, in high school I could get marijuana in less than 5 minutes if I wanted to. It is just that easy to get and I have no idea how it could possibly be more accessible. If I wanted some now I have no idea where I would go for it.

[zenkai]

I imagine the Marijuana "packs" will be sold in containers marked similarly to the way we mark Cigarettes here:

[IMG]http://sanatkaravani.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/yeni-zellanda-yesilay.jpg[/

It's not exactly difficult for the youngin's to get pot right now here anyway though. Marijuana is already decriminalized here...legalization is just the next step. At least this way they don't have to worry about it being laced with fentanyl or other scary shit.

Or oregano.

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I never understood the argument that legalizing marijuana would make it more accessible to our youth. Though I have never done any kind of drugs, in high school I could get marijuana in less than 5 minutes if I wanted to. It is just that easy to get and I have no idea how it could possibly be more accessible. If I wanted some now I have no idea where I would go for it.

Well, if I wanted pot I have no idea how to get it. Now in my youth my friends smoked it and if I wanted some I guess I could have bought it off them. I look at it like alcohol, my son couldn't get into my stash to get some because I never kept it in the house.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Or oregano.

I'm okay with kids smoking Oregano and feeling "high as balls".

[Independent voter]

Down here we always say "Canada should take the edge off." This will go a long way towards meeting that goal.

[Yvaelle]

Down here we always say "Canada should take the edge off." This will go a long way towards meeting that goal.

In Nevada people think Canadians have an edge?

[Independent voter]

In Nevada people think Canadians have an edge?

No. But I bet they do in Minnesota.

'Those Canadians are off the hook I bet'cha."

"Yah hon, okay then."

[Acidbaron]

I imagine the Marijuana "packs" will be sold in containers marked similarly to the way we mark Cigarettes here:



It's not exactly difficult for the youngin's to get pot right now here anyway though. Marijuana is already decriminalized here...legalization is just the next step. At least this way they don't have to worry about it being laced with fentanyl or other scary shit.

The thing is, if we make it legal we can control the majority of how the weed is grow and what products are legal to use on it. Right now the weed produced as a whole lot stronger than it used to be mostly due to chemicals added to it. Those chemicals might be harmful but we have zero control over it.

There will always be illegally grown pot, but if we can make the majority of it legal then it would be the same as alcohol and i'm sure you rather buy a bottle in a store then from someone in a back alley.

[Kujako]

I hope you're kidding and if not I feel very, very sorry for you. Some day you'll grow up and realize that marijuana isn't bad.

Didn't say I approved, just that it will be a thing.