Canada is About to Legalise Weed
If there’s one thing Justin Trudeau loves more than building his progressive heartthrob public image its enacting popular liberal policies. Canada is expected to legalize cannabis for recreational purposes by the end of summer.
In March the liberal government passed their cannabis legalisation bill by a narrow margin, with only a majority of 44 to 29. The votes were incredibly partisan with mainly conservative senators voting against the bill.
There was a lot of drama surrounding this victory. Two Senate committees were out of town in the week leading up to the vote, which meant that some independent and liberal politicians wouldnt be present for the vote and unable to contribute. Some senators took last-minute flights just to arrive in time for the vote.
Not everyone was happy with the victory, conservative Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu told a journalist that, “It’s a piece of shit. It doesn’t protect people, it will not exclude organized crime from the production. So, most senators say this bill was written badly,” which may suggest some level of vexation on his part.
Fast forward to now, and the Canadian government passed their Cannabis Act back to the House of Commons law by a much more comfortable 56 to 30.
What Does This Bill Mean?
When the bill becomes law, Canadian citizens will only have to wait a short 12 weeks before cannabis before they can enjoy fully legal recreational cannabis. The legalisation will be accompanied by a battery of regulations pertaining to licensing, cultivation, packaging, and the minimum age of consumers. In some states, it will be regulated in a similar way to alcohol. This means that the government will control all sales through specially licensed outlets.
What Are The Advantages of This?
The chief advantages is that now everyone can get weed legally. Which is awesome. There is also a whole host of other advantages, mainly social and economic. First and foremost, decriminalising cannabis is a great way of defunding organised crime. Less black-market funded murders is generally considered a net positive for a society.
On the less bleak side of things legalised cannabis is proving to be a massive boost to the US economy. It is currently the fastest growing sector of jobs in America, and projections estimate that by 2030 it will have overtaken soft drinks in profitability. Clearly, Trudeau took note of this and decided to get some of that sweet green by legalising recreational green.
