TORONTO (AP) Canadas Senate gave final passage Tuesday to the federal governments bill to legalize cannabis, though Canadians will have to wait at least a couple of months to legally buy marijuana as their country becomes the second in the world to make pot legal nationwide.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus government had hoped to make pot legal by July 1, but the government has said provincial and territorial governments will need eight to 12 weeks following Senate passage and royal assent to prepare for retail sales.
Its 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, Trudeau tweeted.
Canada is following the lead of Uruguay in allowing a nationwide, legal marijuana market, although each Canadian province is working up its own rules for pot sales. The federal government and the provinces also still need to publish regulations that will govern the cannabis trade.
The bill passed in the Senate by a vote of 52-29.
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 hasnt worked, said independent Sen. Tony Dean, who sponsored the bill in the upper house.
Canada is the largest developed country to end a nationwide prohibition on marijuana use. In the U.S., nine states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana.
