Canada finally legalizes Recreational Marijuana

Posted by Sagar Satapathy on June 20, 2018.

Canada Senate passed a historic bill on Tuesday with a vote of 52-29 paving the way for a fully legal recreational marijuana market within eight to 12 weeks.

With this Canada became only the second country in the world after Uruguay and the first G7 nation to implement legislation to permit a nationwide marijuana market.

The Canadian in the House of Commons lawmakers had on Monday voted 205-82 the bill that would allow free consumption of the mind-altering drug.

Bill C-45, otherwise known as the Cannabis Act, now will lift a 90-year-old ban on recreational marijuana.

"We have seen in the Senate tonight a historic vote that ends 90 years of prohibition of cannabis in this country, 90 years of needless criminalization, 90 years of a just-say-no approach to drugs that hasn't worked," independent Senator Tony Dean, who sponsored the bill in the Upper House, said.

The act to legalize the recreational use of weed was first introduced on April 13, 2017, and was later passed at the House of Commons in November. The Senate passage of the bill was the final hurdle in the process.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had promised during his 2015 election campaign to legalize marijuana and to keep it away from underage users and reduce related crime.

On Twitter, Trudeau praised the bill and focused on Canada's youth.

"It's been too easy for our kids to get marijuana - and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalize & regulate marijuana just passed the Senate," he tweeted.

The Government is expected to decide a date that would legalize it in early or mid-September.

Once the bill is formally approved adults, 18-year-old or older, will be able to carry and share up to 30 grams of legal marijuana in public. They also will be allowed to cultivate up to four plants in their households and prepare products such as edibles for personal use.

However, stringent rules will still govern the purchase and use of marijuana. Consumers are expected to purchase marijuana from retailers regulated by provinces, territories or when neither of those options are available federally licensed producers. Marijuana will also not be sold in the same location as alcohol or tobacco.

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