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Government of Canada Will Introduce Legislation to Legalize Marijuana in 2017

2016-04-20

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Marijuana

Today, at the UN in New York, Canadian Health Minister Jane Philpott announced that the Liberal Government would, in 2017, unveil its plan to legalize marijuana.

Explained Philpott: “We will introduce legislation in spring 2017 that ensures we keep marijuana out of the hands of children and profits out of the hands of criminals.

“We will work with law enforcement partners to encourage appropriate and proportionate criminal justice measures,” she continued. “We know it is impossible to arrest our way out of this problem.”

Philpott, along with Parliamentary Secretary to the Justice Minister, Bill Blair, are in New York this week to discuss global progress with regards to the UN’s 2009 action plan on how curb the world’s drug issues.

According to CBC.ca, if the Liberal Government were able to pass this legislation on marijuana, it “would breach three global treaties on illicit drug used signed by previous Canadian governments.”

Last week, Philpott helped introduce Bill C-14, “An Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make related amendments to other Acts (medical assistance in dying.)” One controversial part of the bill is that only those considered to be on the verge of death could seek medical assistance in dying. Those experiencing non-life threatening chronic pain, however, would not be allowed to take such a course of action.

Medicinal marijuana, as you may already know, is available (by prescription) to Canadians suffering from various afflictions, including constant pain. Perhaps, if this legislation to legalize marijuana passes, access to the substance will become even easier to obtain for those who need it.

For more exploration and discussion regarding the subject of medicinal marijuana, we invite you to click here to watch our previous episode of theZoomer on the issue as it stood in 2014.

-Adam Grant

Vision NewsLetter

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