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Canadian Senators Legalize Recreational Marijuana Use – Prime Minister

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The act permitting the use of recreational marijuana passed through the Canadian Senate, legalizing the drug in the North American country, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.
Sputnik

"It’s been too easy for our kids to get marijuana — and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalize & regulate marijuana just passed the Senate," Trudeau wrote on his Twitter.

​The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported that the vote on the so-called Cannabis Act had been passed after 52 senators had upheld it, 29 lawmakers voted against it, and 2 senators abstained from the vote.

Lawmaker Tony Dean, who sponsored the act in the Senate, called passing the legislation after decades of the ban on marijuana use in Canada a "transformative social policy" and a brave move on the part of the government.

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Since the act was passed by both houses of the Canadian parliament, it needs to receive the Royal Assent, the formal authorization transforming an act into law, given by the governor general, after which the government will have to set the date when the legislation will come into force.

Cannabis was banned in Canada in 1923, with regulated medical cannabis becoming legal in 2001.

Canada is the second country to permit the recreational use of marijuana nationwide after Uruguay legalized the drug in 2013.

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