OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau isn’t backing down from his government’s much-maligned timeline for legalizing marijuana, despite a growing chorus of calls from senators, Indigenous leaders and others to delay the plan for up to a year.
Trudeau says the plan to make recreational pot legal by this summer will go ahead without delay.
That declaration follows comments Wednesday that suggested he was open to slowing down the process, following a Senate committee report calling for more consultation with First Nations on taxation, education materials and addictions treatment.
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Trudeau says every single day that marijuana remains illegal, Canadians are being harmed, proving that the current approach is not working.
He says legalizing the drug will take control away from criminal organizations and drug dealers.
But he also says legalization is a process, one that will involve continued work with provinces, municipalities and Indigenous leaders to ensure the law is rolled out properly.
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