While Trump, together with his sidekick, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, is considering reverting back to the old school method of drug enforcement by bringing back huge penalties for small-time drug offenders, Canada has announced that no later than July 2018 Canadians will be able to go to their local cannabis distributor and buy some pot without any medical prescription. Until that takes place, people can buy weed online. While buying weed online is still sort of a grey area, it's been done for over 15 years and isn't really frowned upon, especially as authorized distributors of medical marijuana are allowed to ship through Canada Post.
So compared to what Trump's administration is thinking (if the man is able to do that), it's something different.
"The Trump administration's approach represents a return to the Stone Age of criminal justice policy. It's like we haven't moved on. It's all reflecting comments made 30 years ago." -- Daniel Medwed, Professor of Law and criminal justice at Northeastern University.
So what are the main differences between the US and Canada when it comes to weed (that is, before Trump manages to make things worse in the States)?
- In Canada medical marijuana is legal countrywide while in the US the legality is left up to individual states. It's worth mentioning here that weed is still illegal on federal level, which means that the legality sometimes isn't exactly as it seems.
- In Canada licensed producers can mail medical cannabis to clients.
- At this point the dispensaries are not legal yet in Canada, but that's set to change early next summer. In the US they are legal already now.
- In Canada full legalization is expected next summer while in the US you can't be sure of anything, although some states have theoretically fully legalized it.
In general, when it comes to marijuana, Canada is definitely more
chillaxed than the States.
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