Marijuana now legal in Canada, but barriers remain for consumers
OTTAWA, CANADA >> Canada becomes the first major industrialized country to fully decriminalize cannabis for recreational use today, fulfilling a 2015 election pledge from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a process that has proven massively complex and remains fraught with uncertainty.
Concerns abound. Already there are worries about a shortage of legal cannabis for sale in the early months of legalization and a lack of retail outlets, leading to a possible boom in the illicit marijuana trade the new law is designed to thwart. Canada’s 13 provinces and territories are tasked with regulating the distribution and sale of cannabis, and they are adopting a range of differing approaches. And Canadians crossing into the United States might be barred entry if they admit to using cannabis.
Under legislation passed by Canada’s Parliament in June, it will no longer be illegal for adults to purchase, possess or grow recreational cannabis, starting today. It is a far broader legalization process than what’s taken place so far in the United States, where nine states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational pot but federal law still treats it as an illegal Schedule 1 substance. (Internationally, only Uruguay has undertaken such an extensive legalization process.)
While Canada’s federal government has changed Canada’s criminal law and is now responsible for licensing commercial cannabis growers and authorizing their products, the provinces are in charge of regulating distribution and retail sale of marijuana.
In Ontario and the Western provinces, sale of cannabis will be left largely to licensed privately operated retail outlets, but in Quebec and most eastern Canadian provinces, marijuana will be sold only in state-run stores, in the same way alcohol is sold. In most of the country, the legal age will be 18 or 19, the same as for alcohol, but Quebec has promised to boost the cannabis consumption age to 21.
In Ontario, the most populous province, the only way to buy legal pot as of today will be by mail order because permits for private outlets are not expected to be issued before next spring after recently elected premier Doug Ford decided to reverse earlier plans to sell cannabis through government-owned stores.
In neighboring Quebec, there will be a dozen outlets open while in British Columbia, there will be just a single provincial store although it is expected that cannabis will still be available in privately owned storefronts where sales have long been tolerated.
Federal law also will allow adults to grow four plants apiece for personal consumption.