Canada’s federal government is expected next month to announce nation-wide plans to legalize cannabis nationwide by July 1, 2018, according to a report from the CBC. Bill Blair, the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Justice briefed the Liberal caucus on the plans, which sets the legal age to purchase, possess, and consume cannabis at 18, and includes provincial control on distribution and sales, including local ability to raise the legal age.
Canadians would also be able to grow up to four plants per household.
The announcement comes little more than two weeks after authorities in Toronto and Vancouver raided dispensaries in the provinces. In those raids, Marc and Jodie Emery, activists and owners of Cannabis Culture were arrested and charged with trafficking along three other dispensary operators.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said about a week prior to the raids that until the government has “a framework to control and regulate marijuana, the current laws apply.”
According to Health Canada statistics from February, the number of registered medical cannabis patients in the nation rose 32 percent from September to Dec. 31 last year. In 2016, a Canadian Federal Court ruled that grow-your-own cannabis bans violated a patient’s right to life, liberty, and security, forcing the government to allow those with a prescription to grow their own cannabis plants, which was capped at two indoor or five outdoor plants.