Cannabis is given the green light in Canada

CANADA has passed legislation to legalise the recreational use of cannabis, making good on an election promise by Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party and becoming only the second country in the world to do so.

The Cannabis Act completed its final step in a 52-29 Senate vote. It means Canada will be the first of the G7 advanced industrial nations to allow the cultivation, purchase and consumption of the drug nationwide once it comes into force. It joins Uruguay as the only countries to have fully legalised the drug for recreational use.

Jody Wilson-raybould, the justice minister, said: “This is a historic milestone for progressive policy in Canada as we shift our approach to cannabis.

“This legislation will help protect our youth from the risks of cannabis while keeping profits out of the hands of criminals and organised crime.”

Medical use has been legal in the country since 1981. The new bill controls how the drug can be grown and distributed for recreational use, introducing new offences for selling marijuana to children.

The law bans sales to anyone under 18, although provinces and territories will be allowed to set higher minimum ages. It still needs royal assent and then the government will set a start date for it to take effect.

September is likely to be the earliest date for legal sales to begin.

Conservative MPS and senators who opposed the new laws spoke out yesterday. “Sad day for Canada’s kids,” Senator Linda Frum wrote on Twitter.

Conservative Senator Leo Housakos said: “When you normalise the use of marijuana and you’re a young person and you had certain reservations because of the simple fact that it was illegal, there’s, I believe, a propensity to have somebody be more inclined to use it.”

The move comes amid a growing debate in the UK and many other developed nations about whether it is time to give up on failing efforts to stamp out the recreational use of cannabis.