All eyes are on Canada this coming week as the Senatehttps://torontosun.com/cannabis/cannabis-news/bill-c-45/high-time-senate-to-finally-vote-on-legalizing-recreational-weed-in-canada All eyes are on Canada this coming week as the Senate get set to finally vote on the Cannabis Act after 14 months of discussion, debate, and passing or defeating amendments.
If the bill to make recreational pot legal is passed by the Senators on Thursday, it moves back to the House of Commons (and could even come back to the Senate) before eventual hand-off for royal ascent to become law.
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This means the provinces likely won’t start selling legal recreational weed to consumers for another 10-14 weeks as regulatory rules by the government are fine-tuned.
That slow progress is just as it should be according to Ontario independent Senator Tony Dean who is the sponsor of Bill C-45.
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“It could be the last week of August — it could be the beginning or mid-September,” Dean said of the availability of recreational pot.
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“From where I sit, and I’m the sponsor of the bill, if it takes until the first week of October to get it all right, then we should take until the first week of October,” he said. “Canada will be the second or third jurisdiction globally (after Uruguay and Portugal, the latter which has decriminalized all drugs) to legalize recreational cannabis.”
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“So we’re not the first but I think we will be the most cautious. So the world is watching Canada but I think Canada is seen as a pretty cautious follower of big trends where we’re not exactly considered a country that, in policy terms, takes big risks,” Dean added.