One of the hottest legal topics these days is the legalization of marijuana. As law students, you’re in the perfect position to analyze and develop your own perspective and knowledge on such a controversial issue before you head out into the real world as a practicing lawyer.
Right now, the United States has already partially legalized marijuana, medically and/or recreationally, across the country. Some states have taken measures to forge new legal avenues on how to approach the regulation of the substance, whether it be by defining the amount one can possess personally or how many plants one can grow.
As many of you have seen over the years, legalizing marijuana is a complex ongoing process, which is true for any country, and not just the U.S. North of the border, Canada is also taking those first steps to recognize marijuana as a legal substance for recreational use.
Canadian laws on marijuana still have yet to be decided. This is an interesting case as marijuana legalization will be under federal control in Canada – which means the change will be nationwide, not province by province or state by state.
As this will be a federal matter, the issue is even tenser as the country is taking a closer look at how marijuana should be regulated, taxed, and monitored. Canadian pot entrepreneurs are opening dispensaries in hopes of setting themselves up for the 2017 marijuana market. There are a lot of gray areas that are being taken advantage of and which lawyers are struggling to define.
As a result, Canada is looking to the U.S. and other jurisdictions, like Portugal and the Netherlands, in order to find examples of a legal model they can follow. And it isn’t easy.
The following infographic takes a look at how other countries are dealing with the possession, selling and production of marijuana. Click the image to enlarge.
Graphic courtesy of O’Neill Moon Quedado LLP.