Government Tables Legislation to Legalize Pot #CDNpoli

The Liberal Government has tables legislation to legalize cannabis.

If passed, the law would permit people to possess up to 30 grams of dried or fresh cannabis, pending they are at least 18 years old. Provinces may set a higher legal age.

Consumers can grow four plants.

Dried and fresh cannabis and cannabis oil will be available first.

If found with more marijuana then legally allowed, a ticket will be issued. Those selling marijuana without a license could also face up to 14 years in jail.

Anyone caught selling pot to a minor could also face up to 14 years in jail.

There are still no details on how marijuana will be priced or taxed.

The goal is to make pot legal by July 1, 2018.

Marijuana was criminalized in Canada in 1923.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse:

When a person smokes marijuana, THC quickly passes from the lungs into the bloodstream. The blood carries the chemical to the brain and other organs throughout the body. The body absorbs THC more slowly when the person eats or drinks it.

Marijuana also affects brain development. When people begin using marijuana as teenagers, the drug may reduce thinking, memory, and learning functions and affect how the brain builds connections between the areas necessary for these functions. Marijuana's effects on these abilities may last a long time or even be permanent.