High times are coming to Canada

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The legalization of marijuana was a Liberal Party campaign promise; falling to number six on the list of to do's, Canadians could see the legalization and regulation of weed in the near future.

The legalization of marijuana was one of the Liberal Party’s campaign promises that helped propel them to a majority government, and work is now under way to make it easier to access the recreational drug.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Scarborough Southwest MP Bill Blair to head the process of legalization. Blair used to be the Toronto police chief and is currently the parliamentary secretary to the Justice Minister.

The Liberal campaign promise was “to ensure that we keep marijuana out of the hands of children, and the profits out of the hands of criminals, we will legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana,” as stated on the government’s website.

There has been discussion about using the LCBO to regulate and distribute marijuana, which is likely to be more costly than the price consumers are paying for it now.

Some sources are suggesting that the federal government use the model that is already in place by allowing medical marijuana dispensaries to expand and sell it or ship it to consumers directly.

Meanwhile, others are stating that they should not expand a failing system.

“People want to buy it from stores, like everything else. Particularly plants, this is something you like to smell, look at, before you purchase. It’s like tomatoes. You want to see the quality before you spend your money,” Vancouver lawyer Kirk Tousaw told the Globe and Mail.

In the mandate letter to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Jody Wilson-Raybould, legalization and regulation of marijuana came sixth on the list after an inquiry into the murdered and missing indigenous women and the “criminal justice system and sentencing” reform.

It does not look as though this will happen any time soon as both of these two issues are time consuming and require a lot of focus.

However, this doesn’t slow down the chatter about the topic.

According to Macleans, Blair is hoping to have more information about the initial steps to share with the public within the next few weeks.