Alberta Marijuana Legalization
On June 2, 2017, Alberta, one of Canada’s western provinces, announced that it is seeking input from Albertans on the province’s recreational marijuana rollout. Residents of the province who are 17 and older are invited to complete six short surveys to help establish the province’s objectives, legal age, purchasing requirements, road and workplace safety regulations, economic implications and opportunities and rules on public consumption.
“I encourage everyone to share their views on this issue as we develop a Cannabis Framework that works for our province. Feedback from Albertans is an important part of the process,” said Kathleen Ganley, Alberta’s Minister of Justice and Solicitor General, in a press release. “Our priorities are to keep profits away from criminals, keep cannabis out of the hands of children and protect Alberta’s roads and workplaces.”
Canada’s legislation to legalize recreational marijuana proposes to implement legalization by July 2018, but provinces and territories are responsible for creating and implementing jurisdiction-specific regulations for recreational marijuana that fall within the country’s larger legalization framework.
If a jurisdiction neglects to institute regulations, adults in that jurisdiction would be permitted to buy marijuana from a federally licensed producer online; however, Alberta is avoiding this path of non-action and Alberta marijuana legalization should be on schedule with the country’s implementation deadline of July 2018.
“It definitely is an ambitious timeframe,” Ganley said in a news conference on June 2. “At the end of the day, it’s the health and safety of Albertans that’s at stake so I think we have to work to meet those timelines even if we do find them a little ambitious.”
Albertans have until July 31 to complete one, some or all of the online surveys. In addition to the surveys, Alberta will gather legalization feedback this summer at public events, stakeholder meetings and sector-specific meetings across the province.
