Canada's Liberal government's throne speech promises to legalize pot

Liberal government's throne speech promises to legalize, regulate, restrict pot

OTTAWA -- It has taken more than 40 years but the government of Canada is finally formally committing to legalizing marijuana.

Gov. Gen. David Johnston delivered the governing priorities of Justin Trudeau's Liberals in the speech from the throne Friday, including a pledge to "legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana."

The Liberals promised to legalize pot more than a year ago, prompting a months-long barrage of Conservative attack ads in multiple languages that asserted the move would make marijuana readily available to children through sales at corner stores.

The scare tactics failed to avert a Liberal majority government when Canadians went to the polls on Oct. 19.

Yet amid a flood of priorities from the highly activist Liberals, no one seemed absolutely certain marijuana legalization would make the cut.

But there it was Friday, in a section of the throne speech headlined "Security and Opportunity" -- some 43 years after a federal inquiry headed by Gerald Le Dain recommended in 1972 that Canada stop prosecuting people for simple possession and cultivation of cannabis.

Well there you have it folks, it looks Canada is finally following along with Colorado, Oregon and Washington state in taking the first steps to officially scrapping it's ridiculous marijuana prohibition laws.

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Donald MacPherson, the director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition at Simon Fraser University's Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addictions, called Friday's throne speech "a groundbreaking day."

Decriminalization or legalization is being discussed "in virtually every country where cannabis is being used," MacPherson said in an interview from Kelowna, B.C., adding Canada's policy move has been called for by public health practitioners and is long overdue. He said pot usage rates by Canadian youth are "through the roof" and a policy of smart regulation to restrict access is worth a try.

"We can't do worse than we're doing now."

Lawyer Alan Young, a longtime advocate of legalizing marijuana, said the most compelling argument against legalization was the potentially harsh reaction by Canada's biggest trading partner, the United States, but American public opinion and policy have moved so far in the past decade that caution is no longer needed.

Canada's pot prohibition has been "imposing an enormous burden on a criminal justice system that is already over-extended," said the Osgoode Hall law professor.

Sounds like common sense to me, the war on drugs as a whole has been a complete failure in it's policy of treating drug use as a criminal offense rather then a medical problem, and the tax burden alone of prosecuting and incarcerating dime-bag offenders will save the Liberal government billions.

The economic benefits from opening up an all new Hemp industry in the form of paper, clothing and textiles could prove as an economic boom for Canada as well. I bet William Randolph Hearst is spinning in his grave at this moment.

I'll believe it when I see it.

Like the poster above said, ill believe it when they change the law, the liberals last election where the lesser evil in my opinion, thats why i voted NDP.

a reply to: dukeofjive696969Our great president said that he was going to take a good look at legalization before he was elected. Once he was elected, he asked a drug rep if cannabis should be legalized and the rep said "hell no." So, "promise fulfilled," and if his supporters care - tough for them.

It's difficult to find a cannabis plant that's able to sign over contributions like the big pharmaceutical companies do. Crooked business, as usual. Sick people are made to suffer.