In Canada, bill to legalize pot touted as pro-safety
Canada on Thursday released a plan to legalize recreational marijuana use across the country by July 2018.
The bill’s backers framed it as an effort to reduce adolescent drug use and move profits out of the black market.
“Criminal prohibition has failed to protect our kids and our communities,” said Bill Blair, who is parliamentary secretary to the justice minister, a former Toronto police chief and one of the architects of the bill.
The bill would “make Canada safer,” he added, speaking at a news conference.
“Police forces spend between [$1.5 billion and $2.25 billion] every year trying to deal with cannabis, yet Canadian teens are among the heaviest users in the Western world,” Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale said. “Criminals pocket [$5.25 billion to $6 billion] in proceeds.”
Marijuana legalization was a campaign promise of Prime Minster Justin Trudeau. The bill still needs to be approved by Parliament, but Trudeau’s Liberal Party commands a solid majority there. The measure also has received support from the country’s Conservative Party.
The legislation — “an Act respecting cannabis and to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the Criminal Code and other Acts” — would set a minimum age of 18 to purchase and use marijuana. That’s slightly lower than the drinking-age minimum of 19 in most provinces. It’s also a departure from the norm in the U.S., where states that have legalized recreational marijuana use have set a minimum age of 21.
People would be allowed to possess up to 30 grams, or just more than an ounce, of marijuana for personal use, similar to the 1-ounce standard in U.S. states where marijuana use is legal. Households also would be allowed to grow up to four marijuana plants.
While the bill would remove penalties for individual use and possession, it wouldn’t set up a nationwide system for selling marijuana commercially — those details would be left up to individual provinces. In provinces that decline to set up a commercial framework, customers could order marijuana online from a federally licensed producer.
Finally, accompanying legislation would toughen penalties for driving under the influence of marijuana, alcohol and other drugs.
The bill would make Canada the second country in the world, after Uruguay, to fully legalize recreational marijuana use. In the Netherlands marijuana use is generally tolerated, but it is not technically legal.
While eight U.S. states plus the District of Columbia have already legalized recreational marijuana, it remains illegal at the federal level. Therefore, many state-legal marijuana businesses have reported difficulties using the banking system, receiving tax breaks, and otherwise operating without fear of federal interference.
National legalization to the north could create a fertile environment for marijuana businesses to start up and operate, potentially giving Canadian companies a competitive edge over stateside businesses in the future. Domestic cannabis businesses are already involved in intense lobbying efforts to ease federal restrictions in the U.S.
While numerous pieces of bipartisan legislation have been introduced in Congress to address some of those issues or even legalize marijuana completely, leaders in both parties have generally been wary of letting such provisions proceed.
“With legalization in a growing number of our own states and now an entire major neighboring country ending prohibition, it’s going to be increasingly difficult for drug warriors in [President Donald Trump’s] administration to meaningfully roll back our gains,” said Tom Angell of the pro-legalization group Marijuana Majority.
“It’s never been clearer than today that legal marijuana is the future,” he added.
But the bill has its skeptics.
“This piece of legislation puts the Canadian family at risk,” said Pamela McColl of Smart Approaches to Marijuana Canada, an anti-legalization group. “Youth already think marijuana is harmless, and now we are giving them the government’s seal of approval. This risk will spill over into even younger kids.”
But the bill’s backers contend that reducing underage use is one of their chief aims.
“As a former police officer, I know firsthand how easy it is for our kids to buy cannabis,” Blair said. “Today’s plan to legalize, strictly regulate and restrict access to cannabis will put an end to this. It will keep cannabis out of the hands of children and youth and stop criminals from profiting from it.”