Canada just became the second nation in the world – and the first industrialized nation – to legalize the purchase and consumption of recreational marijuana.
The C-45 bill – also known as the Cannabis Act – passed the Senate in a 52 to 29 vote on Tuesday. The government emphasizes that the legalization will come with strict regulation that will prevent adolescent use and crack down on the illegal drug market.
“It’s been too easy for our kids to get marijuana – and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalize & regulate marijuana just passed the Senate,” wrote Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Twitter.
The bill was officially proposed back in December 2017, which prompted several months of research, study, and discussion on the controversial topic. Its “historic” approval officially ends the country’s almost century-long prohibition on the substance.
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According to The Star, Senator Tony Dean, who sponsored the bill in the upper house, said: “We have seen in the Senate tonight a historic vote that ends 90 years of prohibition of cannabis in this country, 90 years of needless criminalization, 90 years of a just-say-no approach to drugs that hasn’t worked.”
The first country in the world to nationally legalize the growth, sale and consumption of marijuana was Uruguay in 2013. Canada, however, is the first G7 country to legalize recreational use out of the world’s top industrialized nations, including the US, Japan, Germany, the UK, France, and Italy.
Other nations, such as Iran and Portugal, have simply decriminalized drugs as a means of curbing rates of overdose and addiction (and it worked).
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Once the C-45 bill goes into effect in mid-September, Canadian adults 18 years or older will be allowed to possess up to 30 grams of cannabis in public. Marijuana purchases must be made through government-approved vendors that will be regulated by state and province. Laws are also being revised to reflect the consequences and definition of driving while impaired.
“This is an historic milestone for progressive policy in Canada,” tweeted justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould. “This legislation will help protect our youth from the risks of cannabis while keeping profits out of the hands of criminals and organized crime.”
It’s been too easy for our kids to get marijuana - and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalize & regulate marijuana just passed the Senate. #PromiseKept
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) June 20, 2018
Be Sure And Share The Exciting News With Your Friends – Photo by Cannabis Culture-Danny Kresnyak, CC
Congratulations, Canada. I’m not by nature a ‘progressive’ (especially in todays terms) but I agree that legalizing marijuana is a positive step – especially for people who use it responsibly and for those who benefit from it’s medical properties.
Even ‘evil’ Iran has deeply decriminalized it!
I will continue to be forced to use highly addictive pharmaceuticals for my depression and anxiety and live in fear of spending 10 years in prison for possession of a pot seed here in the ‘land of the free’ USA and admire from afar all the other nations who are realizing the ‘war on drugs’ is a monumental failure of historic proportions.