Canada Legalises Recreational Cannabis Use

BBC: Canada has passed a landmark law that legalises the recreational use of marijuana nationwide.

The Cannabis Act passed its final hurdle on Tuesday in a 52-29 vote in the Senate. The bill controls and regulates how the drug can be grown, distributed, and sold.

Canadians will be able to buy and consume the drug legally as early as this September.

The country is the first in the G7 to legalise the drug’s recreational use.

Cannabis possession first became a crime in Canada in 1923 but medical use has been legal since 2001.

The bill will likely receive Royal Assent this week, and the government will then choose an official date when the law will come into force.

It is expected to give the provinces and territories, as well as municipalities, eight to 12 weeks to set up the new marijuana marketplace.

This timeframe will also allows industry and police forces to prepare for the new legal framework.

How will legal marijuana in Canada work?

It is likely that by mid-September, Canadians will be able to buy cannabis and cannabis oil grown by licensed producers at various retail locations.

They will also be allowed to purchase plants and seeds from regulated retailers.

Canadians across the country will be able to order marijuana online from federally licensed producers.

Adults will be able to possess up to 30 grams (1 ounce) of dried cannabis in public.

Edibles, or cannabis-infused foods, will not be immediately available for purchase but will be within a year of the bill coming into force. The delay is meant to give the government time to set out regulations specific to those products.

The minimum legal age to buy and consume marijuana has been set federally at 18, but some provinces have chosen to set it at 19.