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Canada aims for pot legalization in 2017

Adam Kovac, Special for USA TODAY 5:20 p.m. EDT April 26, 2016

MONTREAL — Canada is moving to legalize pot in 2017, but don't expect it to become a new Amsterdam for Americans hoping to get a legal high just across the northern border.

Canada's Liberal Party government will introduce a law next spring to legalize recreational marijuana, Health Minister Jane Philpott disclosed last week at the United Nations. She did not detail who would be allowed to grow or distribute cannabis products.

“Canada has a lot of options here,” said RAND Drug Policy Research Center co-director Beau Kilmer. “You have to pay attention to what's going to happen with the regulation and the taxes. That could really shape what happens in terms of people coming in from other countries. You have to decide whether you want to allow that.”

Since most major Canadian cities are within 100 miles of the U.S. border, Canada's legalization could spur border states to enact their own legislation to prevent the exodus of tourism dollars to the north.

Colorado and Washington, which legalized marijuana in 2013, have seen an uptick in tourism since then.

Those states may also act as models for the new legislation.

“It's nice that those experiments are there for us to see what's worked,” said Zach Walsh, a professor at the University of British Columbia in Kelowna, who studies cannabis. “We'll learn from those and I think, because we're looking at doing it federally and in a more organized way and maybe with a bit more prep time, I think we'll take what's worked from those models and make our own.”

While Canada is the USA's largest trading partner, marijuana is unlikely to become the latest product traded by two countries.

“I don't see the government legalizing the export of cannabis,” said Eugene Oscapella, an Ottawa lawyer who specializes in Canadian social policy. “Right now, it's a criminal offense punishable by life imprisonment. They don't need to change that part of the law in order to set up a legal regulatory regime in Canada.”

Cannabis is still illegal under U.S. law.

Legalizing marijuana was a major campaign plank for Justin Trudeau, who became prime minister after his Liberal Party won last fall's election. Although polls show a majority of Canadians support legalization, Trudeau's predecessor, Stephen Harper, opposed changing marijuana laws, calling the drug worse than cigarettes.

In 2003, Canada's outgoing prime minister, Jean Chretien, publicly questioned whether marijuana should be decriminalized. The U.S. response was swift: John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said such a move would hurt Canadian-U.S. trade relations.

Times have changed, as public opinion in both countries has become more accepting of legal marijuana.

In addition to Colorado and Washington, Alaska and Oregon have legalized pot, and some cities, such as Portland, Maine, and Washington, D.C., have enacted laws that legalize recreational use of marijuana. Vermont and California have indicated they may legalize the drug in the next few years.

Canada faces no current U.S. pressure to stop legalization, but that could change depending on the outcome of the presidential election. Republican front-runner Donald Trump has vowed to build a wall on the Mexican border to deter the flow of drugs into the United States. While Mexico is the major supplier of marijuana to the USA, that hasn't stopped politicians such as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker from floating the idea of building a wall along the northern border.

Walker, during his now-defunct Republican presidential campaign, said on Meet the Press in August that a wall on the Canadian border is "a legitimate issue to look at."

Trump has dismissed the possibility of a wall along the Canadian border.