Recreational marijuana sales in Canada face fresh delays

East Side Games

15/02/2018 22:55

By Leah Schnurr 
    OTTAWA, Feb 15 (Reuters) - The sale of legalized 
recreational marijuana in Canada, which has already been pushed 
back once beyond the planned July start date, is set to be 
delayed even further, government officials said on Thursday. 
    The ruling Liberals are sparring with the upper Senate 
chamber, where a draft law is currently under review. Critics in 
the Senate - which must approve the law - complain the Liberals 
are moving too quickly. 
    The Liberals initially planned for pot to be legalized in 
July but Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor said the Senate 
vote on the draft legislation would be on or around June 7, 
later than expected.  
    If senators recommend amendments, the bill will be sent back 
to the House of Commons lower chamber for review, and would then 
have to go back to the Senate. 
    Asked by reporters when legalization was likely to happen, 
Petitpas Taylor said: "If you do the math, you can certainly see 
that it certainly won't be July 2018."  
    She did not give further details. The House of Commons is 
due to break for the summer on June 22 and will not come back 
until Sept. 17. 
    Last week, Petitpas Taylor said recreational marijuana would 
only go on sale a few months after it was legalized because the 
new retail system needs time to start working properly. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N1PW1TM 
    Canada would be the first Group of Seven country to legalize 
recreational cannabis nationally. 
    Some of the country's 10 provinces - which have 
responsibility for setting up a system to handle sales - and 
police forces have argued that the timeline initially set out by 
the Liberals was too tight. 
    Medical marijuana is already allowed in Canada. The 
Liberals, which made legalizing recreational use part of their 
successful 2015 election campaign, say the new law would keep 
marijuana out of the hands of underage users and reduce related 
crime. 
 
 (Reporting by Leah Schnurr, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien) 
 ((leah.schnurr@thomsonreuters.com; +1 613 788 8203; Reuters 
Messaging: leah.schnurr.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net; Twitter: 
@LeahSchnurr)) 
 
Keywords: CANADA CANNABIS/