Canada has been a known supporter of legal and medical marijuana for years, and now, they have finally officially announced plans to legalize recreational use.
Canada recently announced at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly that they plan to end the ban on recreational cannabis sales. The announcement came on 4/20, at a special United Nations meeting called to discuss international drug policy.
“We will introduce legislation in spring 2018,” Canada’s Health Minister, Jane Philpott, stated during the meeting, according to the Sun Times. (http://www.thesundaily.my/news/1775434) “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.”
Philpott also shared that Canada feels arrests and harsh punishments for cannabis users are not a solution to the problem of cannabis use, and will only cause more issues in the long run.
“We know it is impossible to arrest our way out of this problem,” she stated, taking a jab at the United State’s long-running approach to illegal marijuana.
Bill Blair, who formerly served as Chief of Police in Toronto, will be taking over regulations of legal cannabis in 2017. Justin Trudeau, the current Prime Minister of Canada, appointed Blair, and stands behind the decision to legalize. He claims that his deceased brother was once fined for only having a “tiny amount” of cannabis, and he therefore feels that legalization is necessary.
Additionally, recent polls show that two out of three Canadians support legal cannabis, and 35 million Canadians nation-wide smoke marijuana. It is high time that legalization takes place in the Great White North, and there example will surely lead many other countries to do the same.
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