Premier Rachel Notley has said that the minimum age for purchasing cannabis will be determined after input from Albertans. This statement comes with cannabis legalization coming down the pipe in 2017.
This statement comes just after the national Task Force on Cannabis Legalization and Regulation released a report that recommended that the minimum age for individuals to buy pot should be 18 years. However, the report also suggested that territories and provinces should have the freedom of harmonizing the minimum age for purchasing alcohol and tobacco with that of pot.
Notley said that although not everyone might be in agreement, it is important that Albertans are allowed to make their contribution on the issue in order to squash any doubt regarding the safety of cannabis.
The report associated the consumption of pot by adolescents with derailed brain development. Citing this health concern, Alberta Liberal leader Dr. David Swann recommended that pot should only be sold to individuals that are 21 years and older.
He added that he was trying to find a reasonable middle ground since the Canadian Medical Association and the (Canadian Pediatric Society) have recommended that one should be at least 25 to consume marijuana.
To help provide a framework for the minimum age to purchase pot, the task force looked at the minimum legal ages for tobacco and alcohol. Alberta, Quebec and Manitoba have set their minimum age at 18 but majority of the provinces and territories have a minimum age of 19.
According to Cam Battley; the senior vice-president of Alberta-based Aurora Cannabis, Alberta is taking a thoughtful and calculated approach to legalize pot and he is in full support. He added that legalizing marijuana is the right thing to do but it must also be regulated in the right way.
The report borrowed some inspiration from Washington and Colorado, where the state governments chose to align the minimum age for purchasing cannabis with the minimum age for purchasing alcohol at 21.
According to Notley, most of the marijuana consumers are aged between 18 to 25 and therefore illegal sales of cannabis will continue if they set a minimum age higher than 18.
He added that Alberta will need to deeply examine the report in order to come up with a concrete policy about marijuana.
The report said that in order to regulate marijuana, the leaders have to take some lessons from tobacco and alcohol control. It will be interesting to see how things will turn out moving into the future.
