The Canadian Liberal government will be introducing a legislation to decriminalize recreational cannabis in the spring of 2017. The news was announced by Canada's health minister at the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, April 20.
Jane Philpott, the health minister, said that the Canadian government will ensure that marijuana will not be accessible to children, and criminals will not be getting revenues from selling pot. She also discussed the growing drug problems across the world during the general assembly, according to Telegraph. Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, assured during the last campaign election last year that his Liberals would decriminalize recreational cannabis after the US states of Washington and Colorado.
"We will work with law enforcement partners to encourage appropriate and proportionate criminal justice measures," she said. "We know it is impossible to arrest our way out of this problem." The health minister also claimed that even the proposed plan to decriminalize recreational cannabis would challenge the status quo in several countries, Canada believes it is the best way to secure the youth and promote public safety, The Star claims.
Philpott described criminalizing weeds in Canada and abroad are both overly harsh and ineffective. She stated that the government will be collaborating with the law enforcement to bring appropriate and proportionate criminal sanctions, The Guardian reported. Former Toronto police chief Bill Blair, Canada's head on the measure claimed that the law making marijuana illegal is still in effect. The health minister's announcement comes concurs with 4/20, the yearly largest free protest festival in Vancouver for cannabis' fanatics.
"Canada will continue to modernize our approach to drug policy. Building on our successes, such as (safe injection sites), our work will embrace upstream prevention, compassionate treatment and harm reduction," she said.
Canada is preparing for decriminalizing recreational cannabis by organizing a task force, who will be examining and evaluating every detail to legalize weed in the coming weeks. Canada is expected to come up with answers on how cannabis would be produced; places where it could be accessed and sold; and tax issues. Canadians are also welcome to participate in forming the draft regulations in decriminalizing recreational cannabis.
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