On Oct. 17, recreational cannabis will become legal in Canada. This is the story of how we got here and what will happen next, as recounted by fifteen government and industry insiders who have watched the vast social and economic project take shape.
1. THE ROAD TO ROYAL ASSENT
The legalization of recreational cannabis was a conspicuous and controversial part of Justin Trudeau’s campaign platform during the 2015 election, and once in office, he wasted little time in tasking former Toronto police chief Bill Blair with making the promise a legislative reality. But putting an end to nearly a century of pot prohibition, and coming up with a regulatory framework to govern the drug, was no simple matter. Bill C-45, The Cannabis Act, was introduced on April 13, 2017, and ultimately passed in June of this year, but not before a tense final vote in the Senate threatened to delay legalization indefinitely.
National Post – October 12, 2018.
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