New Canadian Prime Minister Vows to Legalize Marijuana

Justin Trudeau was elected as Canada’s next prime minister on Monday. Trudeau and the Liberal Party have promised to bring sweeping changes throughout Canada – which includes legalizing marijuana.

The Liberal Party defeated the incumbent Conservative Party in a landslide victory.

Trudeau, a former school teacher and son of former Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau, along with the Liberals, campaigned with marijuana legalization as a major part of their policy. The Liberal Party’s website states:

“We will legalize, regulate, and restrict access to marijuana.

Canada’s current system of marijuana prohibition does not work. It does not prevent young people from using marijuana and too many Canadians end up with criminal records for possessing small amounts of the drug.

Arresting and prosecuting these offenses is expensive for our criminal justice system. It traps too many Canadians in the criminal justice system for minor, non-violent offenses. At the same time, the proceeds from the illegal drug trade support organized crime and greater threats to public safety, like human trafficking and hard drugs.

To ensure that we keep marijuana out of the hands of children, and the profits out of the hands of criminals, we will legalize, regulate, and restrict access to marijuana.

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.

We will create a federal/provincial/territorial task force, and with input from experts in public health, substance abuse, and law enforcement, will design a new system of strict marijuana sales and distribution, with appropriate federal and provincial excise taxes applied.”