Fulfilling a campaign pledge, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
introduced legislation on Thursday to legalize the recreational use of
marijuana in Canada.
Many nations have either decriminalized marijuana, allowed
it to be prescribed medically or effectively stopped enforcing laws against it.
But when Mr. Trudeau’s bill passes as expected, Canada will become only the
second nation, after Uruguay, to completely legalize marijuana as a consumer
product.
“Criminal prohibition has failed to protect our kids and our
communities,” said Bill Blair, a lawmaker and former Toronto police chief whom
Mr. Trudeau appointed to manage the legislation.
Mr. Blair said at a news conference that the government
hoped to begin allowing legal sales by the middle of 2018. While the
government’s plan has been broadly shaped by a panel of experts, many issues
still need to be ironed out.
“We do accept that
important work remains to be done,” he said.
While the federal government will license and regulate
growers, each of Canada’s provinces will need to decide exactly how the drug
will be distributed and sold within its boundaries.
The government will have to
develop the marijuana equivalents of breathalyzers so that drivers can be
checked for impairment at the roadside and workers can be tested for safety on
the job. Diplomats will have to address conflicts with international drug
treaties. And many in the medical field are concerned about the long-term
health effects of increased use of marijuana by Canadians under the age of 25.
Though eight American states have legalized marijuana to
various extents, the drug remains illegal under federal law. Mr. Trudeau’s move
eliminates any such ambiguity in Canada. It follows a court-mandated
legalization of marijuana for medical purposes, which was introduced with tight
controls in 1999 and later broadened by further court orders.
While the new legislation will take Canada beyond its medical
marijuana system, it stops far short of creating an open market. The law will
require purchasers to be at least 18 years old — though provinces can set a
higher minimum — and it will limit the amount they can carry at any one time to
30 grams, about an ounce.
Households will be allowed to grow up to four marijuana
plants. But the legislation seems built on the assumption that most users will
be supplied by commercial growers, who will be licensed and closely supervised
by the federal government.
Growing, importing, exporting or selling marijuana outside
licensed channels will remain serious crimes, according to Mr. Blair and Ralph
Goodale, the public safety minister.
Each province will decide where and how marijuana may be
sold, and will set prices in conjunction with the federal government.
How much marijuana will cost and how heavily it will be
taxed will be influenced by Canada’s experience with tobacco, which is also
tightly regulated.
When the country tried to discourage smoking by sharply
increasing cigarette taxes, it inadvertently created a growing black market for
cigarettes smuggled from the United States and elsewhere.
Since one of the government’s main aims with the new law is
to wipe out — or at least reduce — illicit marijuana dealing, it will want to
avoid measures that spur its growth.
It is unclear where users will be able to buy the drug.
Several provinces restrict alcohol sales mainly to government-run liquor
stores, and a similar arrangement may be used for marijuana. But a federal task
force that released its findings late last year recommended that marijuana not
be offered in shops that also sell alcohol.
One thing seems clear: The illegal marijuana stores that
sprang up in several cities after Mr. Trudeau came to power in late 2015, in
anticipation of the new law, are not likely to be allowed to stay in business.
The shops are supplied by black-market growers or organized criminal groups,
and while the police have left them alone in some cities, the authorities have
been openly skeptical about assertions by shop owners that they sell only to
medical users.
Ontario’s attorney general is seeking a forfeiture order
that would allow them to confiscate almost 600,000 Canadian dollars in cash —
about $450,000 — that was seized at the Toronto airport from an employee of a
chain of seven illegal medical marijuana outlets in the city.
Figuring out how to measure impairment is a priority on the
government’s list of things it must do before the legal market is expanded.
Several police forces, including the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police, are testing two types of screening devices that can detect drugs —
including THC, the main psychoactive substance in marijuana — in saliva.
Proposed amendments to criminal laws would require motorists
to give the police saliva samples on request and allow officers to demand a
breath test for alcohol when stopping drivers for any reason.
By IAN AUSTEN
