Canada legalizing marijuana
Posted Jun 19, 2018 4:35 pm.
Last Updated Jun 19, 2018 7:35 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA (NEWS 1130) – Canada is legalizing pot: the Senate has voted 52 to 29 to approve the Cannabis Act tonight in Ottawa.
“I think it’s a great day for Canada,” says Senator Tony Dean, the bill’s sponsor.
The legislation was first introduced more than 14 months ago, and it’s winning day for Dean.
“It ends 90 years of needless criminalization. It ends a prohibition model that inhibited and discouraged public health.”
The Prime Minister is also weighing via Twitter, saying it’s too easy for kids to get a hold of pot and for criminals to cash in on it. Justin Trudeau says that will change.
The leg had been tossed back and forth between the House and the Senate over a series of amendments, including an attempt to allow provinces to ban home growing, although that had failed.Quebec and Manitoba had already decided to ban home cultivation despite the fact the federal bill says Canadians may grow up to four plants per dwelling.
Just because the bill passed, it doesn’t mean its legal to buy or smoke pot just yet. The federal government is giving provinces and territories a two to three month transition period to prepare, meaning official legalization should take effect in mid-September.
An official date has yet to be set.
