Manitoba
Legal age to buy cannabis: 19
Estimated Price: Unknown
Public Smoking: Unknown
Like in British Columbia, the Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Corp. will be in charge of distribution, but private retail locations will sell marijuana. Liquor stores will also be selling marijuana according to CBC News. The province hasn’t yet decided how many stores will sell cannabis after legalization. However, Manitoban authorities have specified that cannabis should be within a 30-minute drive for 90 percent of the province’s population.
Manitoba will have two types of marijuana retail locations. One will be open to all ages, but won’t display marijuana, and the other will only be for people 19-years-old and up. Most likely, the goal is to give underage people access to medical marijuana, but restrict recreational use to those of age.
Manitoban law will not allow residents to grow marijuana in private homes. The rationale behind this restriction is to keep marijuana away from those under 19-years-old. Justice Minister Heather Stefanson explains, “Young people live in homes and we want to make sure it is out of their hands.” It’s also aimed at controlling the black market. People with medical cannabis licenses are exempt from this regulation.
Last month, Manitoban lawmakers proposed legislation that would prevent all outdoor cannabis consumption. Legalization supporters are critiquing this conservative approach to legalization. Steven Stairs, a longtime cannabis activist, told CBC News, “This is not legalization. This is a Conservative veil … ‘protecting the public,’ but meanwhile they’re just following their base, people who don’t want cannabis to be legalized.”
