Canadian parliament has passed a law legalizing the recreational use of marijuana nationwide, after the country’s two legislative chambers approved the Cannabis Act Tuesday.
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 cannabis legally as early as this September. The country is the first in the G7 to legalise the drug’s recreational use.
The Cannabis Act will make it legal for anyone over 18 to possess up to 30 grams of marijuana, while adults will also be allowed to grow up to four marijuana plants at home.
While the bill establishes a national framework for how the cannabis market will operate, each province will be allowed to set their own system of licensing and regulation.
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.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that until now, “it’s been too easy for our kids to get marijuana and for criminals to reap the profits”
But some groups objected to the new law, with opposition Conservative politicians and indigenous groups among those voicing concerns.
The government is expected to give the provinces and territories, as well as municipalities, eight to 12 weeks to set up the new marijuana marketplace. But the federal government has set guidelines for plain packaging with little branding and strict health warnings.
It will be illegal to possess over 30 grams of cannabis, grow more than four plants per household, and to buy from an unlicensed dealer. Penalties will be severe. Someone caught selling the drug to a minor could be jailed for up to 14 years.
Some critics say the penalties are too harsh and not proportional to similar laws like those around selling alcohol to minors.
Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer said he was apprehensive it would normalise cannabis use and make it more accessible.
Leo Housakos, a Conservative senator from Quebec, tweeted to say that he thought the law would be “catastrophic for Canadian generations to come”.
>Juthy Saha
Canada Legalizes Recreational Cannabis Use
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