Canada will become the first G7 country to legalize cannabis, and the world is watching. The primary concern facing the Liberal government as it seeks to fulfill its 2015 campaign promise to "legalize, regulate, and restrict access to marijuana" is whether it can be done without making the situation worse. As the Liberal platform pointed out, the current regime lets illegal cannabis fall into the hands of minors, pours large profits into organized crime, and traps many people in the criminal justice system for what is arguably a victimless crime. While the legalization of marijuana in Canada begins with a straightforward change of the criminal code, its ramifications go far beyond this. Legalization will have a serious impact on the country's international treaty commitments, interprovincial relations, taxation and regulatory regimes, and social and health policies. The essays in this book address these outcomes from three main perspectives: the decades-long political path to legalization; the assumptions that underwrite the new policy, in particular the desire to stamp out the black market; and how legalization in Canada looks from an international perspective. Bringing together analysis by policy makers and scholars, including architects of marijuana legislation in Uruguay and Portugal--two trailblazing jurisdictions--High Time provides an urgent and necessary overview of Canada's Cannabis Act.

In praise of political opportunism, or how to change a policy in only fifty years / Andrew Potter -- Legalized Cannibis in Canada: federalism, policy, and politics / Malcolm G. Bird -- Cannibis legalization and colonial legacies / Jared J. Wesley -- Cannabis and conflict of interest : is it wrong for public officials to profit from legalization? / Chris Macdonald -- Will legalization protect our kids / Daniel Weinstock -- Legalize it (but don't advertise it): the public health case for Cannibis legalization / Jean Francois Crepault -- Is legalization a war on drugs by the back door? / Jacob Stillman -- Unequal justice : race and cannabis arrests in the post-legal landscape / Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, Alex Luscombe, and Brandon M. Finlay -- What jurisdiction for harm reduction: Cannibis policy reform under Canadian federalism / Alana Klein -- Technology, black markets, and retail marijuana / Anindya Sen and Rosalie Wyonch -- The legalization of marijuana and the remembrance of things past / Stephen Easton -- Cannibis legalization: lessons from alcohol, tobacco, and pharmaceutical industries / Michael Devillaer -- Cannabis legalization is the inconvenient test of Canada's commitment to the rule of international law and a rules-based world order / Roojin Habibi and Steven J. Hoffman -- The Portuguese experience with decriminalization / Joô Castel-Branco Goulô.