Canada’s Health Minister Jane Philpott (hehe pot pott get it pot) said today that Canada now has a date for decriminalizing pot: Spring, 2017. The announcement was made on 4/20 Day, significant to cannabis users for reasons nobody can remember, wonder why.
Jane Philpott made the announcement at a UN special session of the General Assembly in New York today.
“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,” said the minister in her prepared speech to delegates.
“We will work with law enforcement partners to encourage appropriate and proportionate criminal justice measures. We know it is impossible to arrest our way out of this problem,” she said.
From Reuters:
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised during last year’s election campaign that his Liberals would legalize recreational marijuana, following the U.S. states of Washington and Colorado, but the time frame has been unclear.
Philpott, speaking at a special session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on drug problems around the world, said the Canadian law will ensure marijuana is kept away from children and will keep criminals from profiting from its sale.
“We will work with law enforcement partners to encourage appropriate and proportionate criminal justice measures,” she said. “We know it is impossible to arrest our way out of this problem.”
Medical marijuana is treated differently from recreational pot in Canada, and is legal already.
More: “Federal marijuana legislation to be introduced in spring 2017, Philpott says” [CBC.ca]