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Indybay Feature

Canada's Plan to Legalize - the political implications

by via Lanny Swerdlow
In 1967 Pierre Trudeau, who became Canada’s Prime Minister the following year, introduced legislation that would ultimately decriminalize homosexuality, noting in a famous quote that “the state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation.” Almost 50 years later his son, Justin Trudeau, appears poised to do the same thing for marijuana.
justin-trudeau.jpg
[ Photo of Justin Trudeau by JustinLing / flickr. ]


In a stunning upset and a veritable political route, Trudeau’s liberal party took control of the reins of Canadian government winning a resounding 184 seats in parliament. Although the election turned on the public’s disdain of the Conservative government’s policies and a growing corruption scandal, Trudeau expressly and openly campaigned to legalize recreational marijuana if he was elected.

The Liberal platform was bold in its marijuana pronouncements. "We will legalize, regulate, and restrict access to marijuana," noting that marijuana prohibition doesn't prevent youth use, is socially disruptive, costly and supports organized crime. Continuing with more specifics the platform stated "We will remove marijuana consumption and incidental possession from the Criminal Code, and create new, stronger laws to punish more severely those who provide it to minors, those who operate a motor vehicle while under its influence, and those who sell it outside of the new regulatory framework."

Pretty heady stuff for marijuana law reform advocates. Just how many voted for the Liberals and Trudeau because of this strong stance and against the reefer madness position of the Harper government, who recently claimed marijuana was more dangerous than tobacco, is hard to pin down, but it was not an insignificant number. The Liberal Party knows this and is expected to make good on its promise to legalize marijuana.

Just how fast this will happen is anyone’s guess. Trudeau said he'd begin work to legalize marijuana in Canada "right away" if elected, but has yet to specify a timeline for implementation.

There is a multitude of ways it can be done. Some could be fast such as updating the definition of specific terms in the regulations that already exist which would allow Trudeau to implement new regulations on his own.

More likely it will be a longer process as the Liberals had previously laid out a plan to create a task force to design a new system of taxed and regulated marijuana sales with input from experts in public health, substance use, and law enforcement. Once the task force issued its report, a bill will be introduced in parliament where, with a solid Liberal majority, it should pass. Unfortunately, this could take years.

Whether it happens quickly or in a couple years, the bets are on it will happen making the Canadian government the second country in the world, after Uruguay, and the first industrialized nation to legalize marijuana.

Canada does more than just share its border with the United States, it is also the U.S.A.’s largest trading partner and legalization in Canada will have a significant impact on U.S. drug policy. Hopefully it will not bring back either the hysteria that happened a decade ago when BC bud began pouring over the U.S./Canadian border or the hysteria that engulfed our government in 2003 and 2004 when the Liberal Party proposed to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

In both cases, U.S. officials invoked the specter of prolonged border crossings. The decriminalization proposal never went anywhere and when the Conservative government took power in 2006 any chance for marijuana law reform ended. As for BC Bud, it has long since lost its luster and now far more U.S. Bud makes its way into Canada then BC Bud ever did into the U.S.

Now that the Liberals have regained power they are apparently going way further than just decriminalization which should serve to strengthen the arguments propelling the United States to rethink its marijuana prohibitionist policies and move towards legalization.

Moving from the northern border to the southern border of the United States, on October 28 the Supreme Court of Mexico will be deciding a case focusing on parts of a federal health law prohibiting marijuana cultivation and consumption. If the Supreme Court declares the law unconstitutional it would essentially legalize the adult use of marijuana.

As evidenced by the four states and Washington DC’s legalization initiatives, political pressure is building in the U.S.A. to end marijuana prohibition. If both Mexico and Canada legalize marijuana, marijuana legalization is inevitable and will happen sooner rather than later in the United States.

Canada’s foray into marijuana legalization could not come at a better time for Ohio’s legalization initiative in November. It will also strongly influence the legalization initiatives that will be on the ballots of up to six states in 2016.

As international drug agreements will be reviewed and proposed changes made in a special 2016 session of the United Nations, Canada’s bold move to legalize marijuana will have an impact on world drug policy as it sends a loud and very clear message to the world that “the times they are a changing.”
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