Canada: Government to announce marijuana will be legal by July 1, 2018

The Liberal government will announce legislation next month that will legalize marijuana in Canada by July 1, 2018.

CBC News has learned that the legislation will be announced during the week of April 10 and will broadly follow the recommendation of a federally appointed task force that was chaired by former liberal Justice Minister Anne McLellan.

Bill Blair, the former Toronto police chief who has been stickhandling the marijuana file for the government, briefed the Liberal caucus on the roll-out plan and the legislation during caucus meetings this weekend.

CBC

Finally. I'm glad my cynical prediction of it being legal just before the election campaign in 2019 for a boost to the ruling Liberals wasn't accurate.

I was going to say better late than never.

But that might not be particulary apt. Congrats though.

Good for Canada, but why over a year? A lot can happen until then.

I can totally see a Trump/Sessions-led US trying to strong-arm Canada into not doing that, then being like "Wah wah wah NOW WE NEED TWO BORDER WALLS CANADA PAY FOR ONE!"

It's looking like the more and more Trump bitches and moans, even weak leaders like Trudeau are going to tell him to sit in the corner of the room while the adults talk.

Just think if good Old usa were to do that. Think of all the income the government would get

Legal in my state of Mass. Good on you, Canada

I think the government gets more money for jailing people for marijuana than they do from taxes on marijuana sales.

Imprisoning people doesn't gain the government money, it costs the government money. Quite a bit, too.

Sorry, I should have specified private prisons. The private prison industry in the US is huge and pretty lucrative - Attorney General Sessions has come out in support of them.

Oh yeah, private prisons + imprisonment for smoking a plant = a corporation's wet dream.

Typical. The average IQ will drop now and everybody will be lazy as shit. Should make cocaine legal to so people and can start dying off.

So Canada has a bill that threatens freedom of speech but will allow people to get baked off their tits my conspiracy senses are tingling.

There is no such bill. If you're referring to M-103 that's just a parliamentary motion calling for the government to publicly condemns Islamaphobia and racism. There is no new law or restriction being placed it's nothing more than a symbolic gesture.

Ah okay as long as it stays like that.

Why stop at ganja ? Legalise the lot :)

Yay!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/marijuana-legal-bill-1.4069178

Full bill coming today.

@perfect_blue:

Canada sounds like a groovy place to live in.

I thought you were going to say, cocaine should be made legal to counteract the lazyness caused by smoking pot

People are going to be high on Canada Day.

Anyways, good for Canada.

cocaine is a hell of a drug. Not even that addicting to be honest, not unless you turn it into crack. Hell, the natives chew on the coca plant in their tradition, I think they still do.

time to roll up a joint, smoke up a sticky icky. Your lily white azz wouldn't understand the allure of something so nice. Instead you're happy to farm our jobs to china and the robots, just to see western civilization burn in hell, while a select few make off like bandits. If thats the case, I say smoke on brothers...smoke on.

This does not surprise me.

A country who´s leader can be best friends with one of the world's worst dictators and be sad when the creep dies, has set the bar so low that nothing surprises.

But to be fair if it's for medical use i am all for it.

But let´s hope Trudeau get´s thrown out at the next election.

Marijuana is already legal for medical use here and has been for a long time. The public seems to agree that it wants legal, recreational marijuana. Why would Trudeau get thrown next election?

Because he is a joke?

But i don't see any valid argument for legalizing it for recreational use.

A joke according to who? You may think so but he's pretty popular here still and legalizing marijuana for recreational use will just boost his popularity even more.

You must not see a valid argument for legalizing Alcohol or tobacco either as those are many times more unhealthy right? I don't think I want to live in your ideal world. You see no reason for people to make their own choices and peacefully enjoy their own lives if you personally don't care for the substance being discussed?

No i don't , but alcohol and tobacco have been legal for so long that it would be impossible to straight out ban them now, also don´t forget that we saw how well it went the last time a ban was tried. Tobacco is a different story, here at least we see it being banned from public places more and more.

And the problem is not people making choices but the weak minded people who can´t see the consequences particular kids.

To most sane people.

And why he is so popular in canada is a mystery.

But to be fair canadians have always been a mystery ;)

@Jacanuk: "No i don't , but alcohol and tobacco have been legal for so long that it would be impossible to straight out ban them now, also don´t forget that we saw how well it went the last time a ban was tried."

The war on drugs has not been a success. Making them illegal has lead to gangs, cartels and even terrorism. It's even more of a disaster than when they tried alcohol prohibition. And on top of that Marijuana has never killed anyone and it's negative health effects are practically nonexistent. It's like banning tea or coffee.

You know, although Trudeau was hypocritical considering his liberal leanings (and I definitely think he deserves the backlash against him), I just want to know what world you live in. Seriously if you think Trudeau should be thrown out because of his friendship with Castro, then I think we should vote out Trump considering what he has done so far.

Trump has made great strives to improve relations with Egypt, has sold arms to Bahrain by dropping the human rights condition, and support the Saudis in Yemen, all of them with tyrannical rulers who have abused the people in their own countries or have committed human rights atrocities. Oh and his praise of Putin. Need I say anything on Putin? Although the same can be said about Obama on Saudi Arabia and Yemen (and he deserves the backlash as well), I wonder if you think Trump should be thrown out at the next election as well, especially since he has adopted some very questionable policies, enacted unconstitutional policies and appointed very questionable people who may not have America's interests in mind.

That being said, as many others have stated regarding your stance on marijuana legalization, your opinion holds no bearing. You seriously cannot think of a legitimate point of making pot illegal and instead just calling it stupid. If that's it, then your opinion is just it. Stupid.

Seriously, pot is not dangerous but making it illegal has led to crime, black markets, waste of police resources, and people getting arrested for smoking a joint. Not only that, considering the opioid epidemic, by making pot legal, it could lessen the use of opioids, which are far more dangerous and addictive and can be prescribed to people suffering from pain. It could encourage job creation in states and counties that have suffered heavy job losses as well.

Diversity is our strength.

I think that making marijuana legal for recreational use here in Canada is a good thing.

So you want to legalize all drugs?

But you really think legalizing marijuana will change the black market for it?

Also it's not true that it has never killed anyone, i know of at least 1 case that was directly linked to the use of it, not to mention the many traffic related incidents.

I wasn´t just thinking he should be thrown out because of that , it´s more a case of him getting thrown out because he seem to be a snowflake politician and more interesting in serving that agenda then making it better for all canadians. And sure once we get to 2020 and a new election , you can only hope that the democrats are not dumb enough to let Sanders or Clinton run again. Because otherwise Trump is most likely going to win again.

My stance on any drugs is that is should not be legal because it does not lead to anything good, so not sure why you find the no bearing. And pot is dangerous , not as dangerous as the more hardcore drugs , But people have died from it not to mention that many see it as a gateway drug.

But i do see it´s merits when it comes to medical use, people are being helped so i am fully for them having the option, after all one drug or the other makes no difference

Snowflake politician... How is he a snowflake politician? And how is Trump the antithesis of a snowflake politician?

Also, how have people died from marijuana?

This is great. In principle I support it 100%.

The only annoying thing is that "I hate my own skin color"-Trudeau and his muppet followers does something good for once.

I guess Castro's death is hitting Trudeau so hard that he is now taking up one of his (alleged) father's biggest jobs.

Drugs.

So anyone who disagrees with you isn't sane? Is that what you are trying to say? Just in another thread you were complaining and saying only liberals are the ones who always name call yet here you are doing it.

To who is it a mystery to? Anyone with an ounce of knowledge in Canadian politics can tell you why he is so popular.

I agree with legalizing all the natural drugs. Just educate kids at an early age and regulate it. Any synthetic drugs should continue to be banned--crack cocaine, heroine are much more addictive and destructive than cocaine/morphine.

I really like Justin Trudeau myself and while he isn't perfect, who is, he is much better then that jerk Stephen Harper. Jack Layton was someone who I could really get behind, unfortunate that he passed away. I don't quite trust Mulcair. I do like Elizabeth May but I don't think she'll ever get enough support. Anyway I'm glad that Justin is our Premier right now.

Pandemonium will surely arise.

I think hard drugs like heroin and Cocaine serve no real purpose to society and should never be promoted but yes, I think they should be legal and regulated. As it stands now people have no trouble whatsoever getting a hold of these drugs and the money goes to gangs and cartels and people are overdosing at an alarming rate due to getting drugs that are cut with other very strong drugs. If it was regulated and safer and was taxed I don't see how the situation couldn't help but improve. Of course it would not be advertised or promoted in anyway and still looked on as shameful by the rest of society.

And then we have marijuana which you would have to hunt for an obscure case to find anyone who has died from it. I've heard at least one story of a person dying from drinking too much water. Marijuana is also much much less likely to be the cause of a traffic accident than alcohol or prescription painkillers. The black market for Marijuana would dry up because the black market marijuana is usually of very low quality and why would you bother with the black market when you can just walk down the street and buy it or grow it in your own home? We don't still see a black market for alcohol do we?

There is an argument to be had about legalizing hard drugs but there is no sensible argument for keeping marijuana illegal.

The world is perfectly fine with alcohol and tobacco being legal even though those substances have killed millions of people.

Marijuana has never killed anyone, legalizing and regulating it would benefit both governments and communities.

Trudeau is a snowflake politician? Then what is Trump?

He has bitchfits about how he's "treated" by the MSM, SNL & other politicians. The fact that the term "snowflake" is even thrown around when his cult worships the thinnest of thin skinned morons is hilarious.

And we already know Clinton isn't running and neither will Sanders.

But you should be the one hoping the Republicans aren't stupid enough to run Trump considering he hit record low approval ratings in <60 days.

And he's on track to accomplish absolutely nothing. Unless you want to count the ~150-200m/year he's on track to spend on all those vacations. Where he personally profits off of taxpayer money.

Or his FBI investigation.

Or the fact that he's already caused ~10-20+ point swings in special elections that are taking place in deep red states. If he causes a blue wave the Republicans are going to have to watch as many of their gerrymandered districts blow up in their faces. That will be some seriously irreparable damage if Trump causes those districts to stay blue too.

And the last thing they need is all the apathetic voters turning out in 2020. High turnout always favors Democrats.

Just look at what happened in 2008 after the Republicans drove the country into the ground during the GWB era. Dems won the House + Senate by 18m and the Presidency by 10m. It was a landslide on every front.

So when Republicans think they have a "mandate" after the 2016 election I just have to laugh. They lost the popular vote in Congress and the Presidency. At this point they're just scraping wins off of gerrymandering, the EC and the fact that Democratic voters self-sort themselves into large states/cities.

The majority of Americans don't want anything to do with unpalatable Republican policies. And a large portion of their base only votes Republican because of guns and abortion. While the rest are complete idiots who think politics = team sports so they vote against their own interests because they think they're "winning" against the librul elites.

Complaining isn't being a snowflake. Snowflake is used about the alt-left.

And republicans won't have a choice, while it is possible to go against a sitting president, it won't happen and Trump will be allowed to run in 2020.

As to the points swing, well Obama caused a democratic controlled house to turn red. So not sure what your point is ? it´s not uncommon for the houses to switch majority to oppose the sitting president. Also one thing is what people may do, another is what they do. And the turnout is something we will see in 2020. Lost the popular vote in congress? What are you talking about? if you mean the election in 2014 , Republicans won that by 13 seats.

lol conservatives like @Jacanuk are anti-weed simply because of the fact that they are conservative and were raised to think so. No actual factual reasons. Nevermind it's several times more safe than legal substances such as smoking and drinking.

Sheep to the herd.

Your last statement is not true. Weed can kill, by direct and non-direct means. It's just not as likely to cause deaths as other, more readily-available, substances.

Sounds like Canada wants to have more lazy people than they had before so the US can do all the work per usual.

Sure, believe what you want.

And luckily i won´t be in contact with anyone who smokes weed, well other than if i hand in my order at the local McD

Luckily? See, this is an illogical and irrational fear, and can only be attributed to it being taught while a child rather than real life data.

Alcohol and Cigarettes are far more dangerous than pot both biologically and socially. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/03/alcohol-vs-marijuana_n_5085506.html. Not so lucky for society.

Furthermore, If it were made illegal, there would be even less crime associated with it and the African Americans you are so scared of (Don't think I'm dumb and don't know who your sentence was aimed at.)

So again, you are only against it because mommy and daddy were (or whatever weird political cult you joined as an adult). Not actual reason and facts.