The Canadian Government is about to announce that adult-use cannabis will be legal by July 1st, 2018.
CBC News has learned that official legislation for the landmark move will be announced the week of April 10, just in time for Canada’s country-wide 420 celebrations a week and a half later.
Former Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair briefed the Liberal caucus over the weekend about the rollout plan. The legislation is supposed to follow the recommendations of the federal task force very closely.
Those recommendations will allow the federal government to control regulations for cultivation, as well as continue to issue grow licenses and regulate all licensed producers as they have done in the past.
How marijuana is distributed, however, will be a decision on the provincial level. That will most likely mean Canadians will purchase their cannabis in a combination of ways depending on where they are in the country. Some of the ideas that have been floating around include purchasing cannabis in government controlled liquor stores, by mail order, and through dispensaries.
While the federal age of purchase is a minimum of 18 years old, the provinces will have the freedom to make that age higher if they so choose. Provincial governments will also be responsible for determining the price point at which cannabis can be sold.
Further to those guidelines, if Canadians want to grow their own marijuana, they are limited to four plants per household.
This announcement by the Liberal government could not come soon enough, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces mounting criticism for dragging his feet on the issue. Further criticism has come to Ottawa due to their choice not to decriminalize cannabis before its legalization.
That decision has created a year of legal turmoil across the country, as local and provincial police were forced to raid unlicensed dispensaries across the country and criminalize Canadians despite the fact that marijuana legalization is imminent.
Regardless of the roller coaster of legality over the last several months, the great white north looks poised to finally end marijuana prohibition by Canada Day 2018, and in theory, nothing is more Canadian than combining personal freedom and marijuana.
Credit: marijuana.com
