The Quebec legal age to buy pot will be 18 years old. This decision comes at a critical time. Because the country of Canada plans to completely legalize cannabis by next year, legislation and regulations need to be solidified. And it needs to happen now.
O Cannabis
When it comes to social progress, our neighbors to the North have been ahead of us for quite awhile. They legalized same-sex marriage a full 10 years before the United States, they have universal healthcare and their education system is generally seen as high quality. Plus, ice hockey is their national winter sport.
And now, Canada is about to smoke the United States in yet another category. Recreational weed.
Currently, cannabis is illegal in Canada, except for medicinal purposes. But in 2013, the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, stated that rather than decriminalizing the plant, he planned to fully legalize it nationwide. His reasoning was sound.
“Tax it, regulate,” he said at a rally in Kelowna, British Columbia. “It’s one of the only ways to keep it out of the hands of our kids because the current War on Drugs, the current model is not working.”
Sounds pretty logical to us. Especially since in our own country, the so-called “War on Drugs” has been an epic failure.
Trudeau, a modern symbol of solid and progressive leadership, made good on his words. The Cannabis Act was introduced to Parliament on April 13th, 2017. Although sales for recreational weed in Canada will not officially begin until next year, this has been labeled a milestone in terms of cannabis in Canada.
Pot In The Provinces
Although nationwide, the legal age for purchasing and consuming weed will be 18, the Cannabis Act allows for further regulations and restrictions on a province-by-province basis. In the province of Ontario, the legal age of purchase and consumption will be 19 years of age. However, in the province of Quebec, the legal age will remain 18.
Quebec Premier Phillippe Couillard finalized this decision today.
In preparation for the nationwide legalization of cannabis, Quebecois politicians had been tossing around the idea to raise the minimum age for possession and purchase to 21. However, Couillard failed to see the logic in that proposal. Mostly because there was no logic in that proposal.
Couillard stated that he wanted to keep marijuana out of the control of organized crime. By raising the minimum legal age, it would enable criminals to continue to sell to youth with ease, due to high demand. He also made the point that raising the minimum age to 21 in the province would not actually do anything productive. As in, a raised age would not prevent youths from purchasing and using cannabis.
Basically, raising the age would put power in the hands of criminals and waste time and resources. And so, the Quebec legal age to buy pot will remain 18.
Final Hit: The Quebec Legal Age To Buy Pot
Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard’s decision is based purely on logic. Raising a minimum age won’t actually prevent youths from engaging in whatever activity is being regulated. We see that all the time when it comes to alcohol. So, using reasoning, we can surmise that the same will be true for recreational weed.
