Canada to Legalize Recreational Cannabis by Spring 2017

This 420 season has been a grand slam for cannabis advocates worldwide. Canada’s Health Minister recently announced that Canada would be legalizing recreational cannabis at the United Nations General Assembly special session in New York City. The announcement came fittingly on April 20. Canada’s beloved liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau kept his promise to legalize cannabis if elected.

The legislation will make Canada the first G7 nation in the world to legalize cannabis.

“We will introduce legislation in spring 2017,” Health Minister Jane Philpott said at the special session of the United Nations General Assembly on global drug problems. Canada’s stance is a bold one. “While this plan challenges the status quo in many countries, we are convinced it is the best way to protect our youth while enhancing public safety.” The announcement makes Canada the first nation in its class to stand up to the UN’s hold on cannabis prohibition. Uruguay became the first nation to fully legalize cannabis in 2013.

Prime Minister Trudeau appointed former Toronto police chief Bill Blair to oversee regulations after the legislation goes through. Trudeau’s decision to legalize cannabis was heavily influenced by the death of his cannabis-using brother, Michel Trudeau. “Mich had charges pending against him when he died for marijuana possession even though it was just a tiny amount,” he told The Huffington Post. Trudeau himself has admitted to smoking cannabis “five or six times”—even while serving as an MP.

Canada’s conservative legislator Gerard Deltell strongly opposed the Prime Minister’s position. “That’s one of the worst things you can do to Canadian youth – to open the door to marijuana . . . it’s wrong, all wrong,” Deltell told reporters. Deltell’s warnings will most likely fall on deaf ears—68 percent of Canadians support Trudeau’s stance on recreational cannabis. Analysts have speculated that the federal government will oversee the supply chain. “We control who it’s sold to, when it’s sold and how it’s used, and organized crime doesn’t have the opportunity to profit from it,” said Bill Blair.