O Canada! Marijuana is Now Legal in the Great White North
As of Wednesday, October 17, marijuana is legal in Canada. Our northern neighbor becomes the second country to fully legalize weed (after Uruguay led the way in 2013), and the first major industrial power to do so.
While the Liberal-dominated federal parliament passed the C-45 legalization bill earlier this year, October 17 marks the beginning of legal marijuana sales and commerce. Under Canadas federal legalization, there will now be an overarching national regulatory framework, but each province establishes its own system of licensing and regulating marijuana businesses.
Like liquor laws in the US, Canadas provincial marijuana laws will have some variation. In some provinces, such as Alberta and British Columbia, licensed producers will store their product in government-regulated warehouses, then ship it to retail pot outlets and online customers.
Others, such as Newfoundland, will have growers ship directly to stores or to customers through the mail. Ontario, the countrys most populous province, will at first only have mail deliveries because the new Conservative provincial government rejected a plan for state-owned stores in favor of privately held shops. Ontario doesnt expect to have any licensed pot shops open for business until April.
Marijuana consumers will pay a federal tax of $1 per gram or 10 percent, whichever is higher, with the federal government keeping one-fourth of those revenues and returning the rest to the provinces. The provinces can also tax marijuana sales, and consumers will have to pay local sales taxes on top of that.
Wednesdays roll-out of the legal pot system isnt exactly starting with a bang. Only about 100 pot shops will be open across the country of 37 million, and only one in the entire province of British Columbia. Many, many more will be coming as the provinces finalize regulatory approaches and potential operators get their permitting in order.
There wont be any edibles for sale for now; marijuana-infused foods and concentrates are expected to be available sometime next year. In the meantime, whats on offer will be buds, capsules, tinctures, and seeds.
That Canada has now legalized marijuana is a very big deal, American marijuana and drug reform groups say.
Canadas move to legalize marijuana is a historic rebuke to the disastrous global war on drugs, which has ruined millions of lives, said Hannah Hetzer, global marijuana policy analyst for the Drug Policy Alliance. Many countries are searching for innovative approaches to drug policy that emphasize health and rights, rather than repression. By taking this bold and principled step, Canada will likely become an inspiration for many other countries, she said.
The legalization of marijuana in Canada, and the likely changes we will see on drug policy in Mexico under its new government, make the United States federal governments prohibition on marijuana even more untenable. Its long past time for Congress and the administration to take action on this issue, Hetzer concluded.
Canada is setting a strong example for how to end marijuana prohibition at the national level and replace it with a system of regulated production and sales that is largely governed at the local level, said Steve Hawkins, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project.
The Canadian model is rather similar to what many envision for the US, and in many ways it mirrors what is happening here, as states have taken the lead in regulating commercial cannabis activity, Hawkins continued. The big difference and it is a critical difference is the blessing provincial governments have received from their federal government. It is time for Congress to step up and take similar action to harmonize our nations state and federal marijuana policies.
Indeed, Canadas full federal legalization is going to provide an edge for Canadian marijuana companies and researchers compared to the US. Even though nine states, including California (which has more people than Canada), the ...
