Trudeau said that he would take care of legalization starting on day one and since then he has been busy with a number of different affairs.
He has managed to establish a legalization task force and Canadians have been told that they should expect to see full legalization take place by 2017. But many Canadians are growing impatient for something that they thought Trudeau would take care of immediately once taking-up his new political position.
A recent poll by the The Prince George Citizen resulted in 37 per cent of the voters saying that it was time for legalization and that they don’t want any more unnecessary people slapped with criminal records for possessing a plant. Following closely behind was 35 per cent of those who said that the government should proceed carefully and slowly because this was a major policy change. And the third group with 17 per cent said that there has already been enough public input; when asked whether the federal government should undertake more public consultation and study before they proceed to legalize cannabis.
The evidence is overwhelming in support of ending prohibition on this plant and there is no reason why the federal government would need any more time to study its effects before allowing its citizens to make the decision to peacefully consume the substance. In areas where legalization has already been tried, like in Colorado and Washington, we can see that there have been a number of positive results that have shattered common misconceptions about what would happen should this plant be fully legalized.
Things like lower crime rates, safer roads, and no increase in usage with young people; in the instance of legalization in Colorado. For places like Portugal and Uruguay, they’ve also seen success with their own initiatives to proceed with legalizing cannabis.