Marijuana seeds and joints are being handed out at the annual 420 pot rally at Yonge-Dundas Square on Wednesday in what has become more of a celebration than a protest.
The tone of the event has changed since the federal government announced plans to regulate the use and distribution of marijuana in Canada.
READ MORE: Canada to introduce pot legalization legislation in 2017
Health Minister Jane Philpott told the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday the Liberal government plans to introduce legislation in the spring of next year.
VIDEO: Minister of Health announces new pot legislation by Spring 2017
This year’s rally in Toronto includes vendors, food booths and workshops. In the past, participants would also openly smoke weed in the public square calling for its legalization.
READ MORE: Teens who regularly use marijuana facing negative health effects: study
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The business of marijuana distribution is also flourishing in anticipation of the new law with dispensaries popping up in neighbourhoods across the country — most illegally but nonetheless tolerated and unenforced.
READ MORE: Pot dispensaries are sprouting up all over Canada. Here’s why.
A new poll released by the Angus Reid Institute on Wednesday also shows a changing tide in public opinion.
The survey shows 68 per cent of Canadians feel pot should be made legal, a nine-point increase from a 2014 poll asking the same question.
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