La legalización de la marihuana ha reportado a las arcas públicas de Canadá 186 millones de dólares canadienses (139 millones de dólares estadounidenses) entre octubre de 2018 y marzo de 2019, según datos dados del organismo público Estadísticas Canadá (EC). Los impuestos especiales a la marihuana suponen un dólar extra por cada gramo. De esta cifra, un 25 % va a parar a las arcas federales y el resto, a las provinciales. Los impuestos a la marihuana legal están haciendo que muchos consumidores de cannabis sigan recurriendo a la compra de marihuana de fuentes no legalizadas. Los datos de EC establecen que, mientras que el precio medio de un gramo de marihuana legal en Canadá es de 10 dólares canadienses , en el mercado negro el precio es de 6,4 dólares canadienses.

El 17 de octubre de 2018 Canadá se convirtió en el segundo país en el mundo -después de Uruguay- en legalizar el uso recreativo de la marihuana. En ese momento, el optimismo se esparció entre los habitantes y vendedores de cannabis, generando una especie de "fiebre verde". Sin embargo, a más de un año de la puesta en marcha de la ley se han evidenciado una serie de deficiencias en cadena para adquirir y vender la hierba. Una de las principales preocupaciones es que el mercado negro de cannabis no ha desaparecido precisamente. Los impuestos especiales de un dólar por gramo y los costos de operar en una industria altamente regulada, generan que el cannabis legal aumente su precio esto hace que los consumidores prefieran comprar de manera ilegal.

Desde octubre del año pasado, Canadá legalizó el uso privado del cannabis. Este negocio se transformó en una mina de oro para muchos empresarios. El límite de posesión por persona es de 30 gramos. Ya previamente, Canadá era uno de los países con mayor consumo de marihuana per cápita en el mundo. El mercado negro se avalúa en cuatro mil millones de euros. "Todo el mercado está enloquecido por el cannabis", explica Mark Rendell. El periodista del diario The Globe and the Mail ha monitoreado por un año y medio la industria del cannabis. "No es normal que seamos pioneros en una industria. Pero debido a la legalización, es mucho más fácil para nosotros que los bancos y los accionistas financien el cannabis", explica Rendell.

Mark Rendell, a business journalists  for Canada's second-largest daily, The Globe and Mail, says the decision to legalize cannabis has led to a gold rush mentality within the emerging industry. He saw even sober-minded investors get "high" on cannabis stocks. He is skeptical in view of the many broken promises made by a lot of companies about their production targets so far. "Companies had to drive their story forward, they had to come out with press release after press release... saying we are going to build this and sell this because they were talking to a retail investor audience. So there was a real shock, how much they underperformed." (See also: Establishing territorial footprint has been what the race in Europe has been all about since mid 2016 for the Canadian LPs so far)

If Canada’s licensed cannabis producers continue ramping up production at their current exponential pace, there will be more than enough pot to meet the government’s projected demand by the end of 2019, predicts one cannabis researcher who conducted an analysis of the government’s most recent data. While some have suggested shortages in the sector could last for years, Brock University professor Michael Armstrong argues that barring any unforeseen circumstances that supply concerns will be resolved much more quickly than that. Total legal production of cannabis began drastically increasing about six months before legalization, Armstrong notes, as evidenced by how quickly cannabis inventories were growing.

Canada became the second country to make it legal for adults to buy, grow and consume small amounts of marijuana. But it also made it a crime to give it to anyone younger than 19 or 18, depending on the province, and set a penalty of up to 14 years in prison for doing so. At the same time, the government began an $83 million public education campaign, much of it targeting Canadian youths, that warns of pot’s dangers. But persuading teenagers not to see legalization as a green light to use marijuana will be difficult, experts say, not to mention that past antidrug efforts have offered little evidence of success. And when it comes to marijuana and the teenage brain, the science is far from clear.

Before the new law came into force in October 2018, Statistics Canada started to estimate prices and the size of the illicit market, and to carry out quarterly surveys of Canadians’ cannabis usage. Earlier this month it released the fifth of these—the first before-and-after comparison of the same part of a year. The main finding was a rise in the number of Canadians who had used cannabis in the three months before the survey, of 27% compared with a year earlier. People are probably more willing to admit to getting lit once weed has been legalised. However, half of new cannabis users are aged over 45; use by under-25s, by contrast, did not rise significantly. Nor was there a significant increase in the number of Canadians who said they used daily or near-daily.

Business failures and consolidation failed to stop Canada’s stockpile of unsold cannabis from reaching a new high in the final quarter of 2022, the latest sign that shrinking prices and margins could continue to squeeze companies. Packaged and unpackaged inventory of dried cannabis jumped to an all-time high of 1.47 billion grams (3.2 million pounds) as of December 2022, according to the latest data from Health Canada, which tracks overall unsold stockpiles of licensed producers, wholesalers and retailers. That’s an increase from 1.3 billion grams in December 2021. Last year, Aurora Cannabis closed its flagship Aurora Sky facility in Edmonton, Alberta – one of the biggest in Canada.

Canada’s decision to legalise cannabis has not resulted in removing organised crime from the chain. Police Academy lecturer Pieter Tops, who visited Canada as part of a police delegation last month, told current affairs show Nieuwsuur that it remains easy for criminals to get hold of legally-grown marijuana. ‘The most important conclusion we can draw is that it is a mistake to think you can reduce the illegal cannabis world by legalisation,’ Tops said. The Canadian system, he said, has a number of weak points although it looks good on paper. The Netherlands plans to begin trials with regulated marijuana production although the draft legislation still has to be approved by the lower house of parliament. (See also: Cannabis legalization has no immediate impact on crime stats: Dutch police)

Canberrans can now grow dope, keep a small amount of the drug at home and smoke it without fear of committing a criminal offence … kind of. Friday marked the first day that the ACT's controversial new cannabis legislation is in effect. The laws have been widely described as the first in Australia to legalise the personal use of marijuana. Yet that's not quite what the ACT legislation does: it simply removes criminal and financial penalties for possessing and using small amounts of the drug. The Federal Government has made it clear that it opposes this shift and has threatened to use the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to enforce its own criminal laws against Canberrans who choose to light up. (See also: Legal cannabis a good step, but drug war hangover remains)

Le ministre de la Santé, Étienne Schneider, est décidé à soumettre courant janvier au Conseil de gouvernement un projet de loi pour légaliser le cannabis récréatif. La date reste toutefois à confirmer. «Il n’est pas exclu que mon successeur héritera de cette tâche», indique le ministre en partance. De retour de leur visite d’études au Canada, les ministres Schneider et Félix Braz (Justice) s’étaient montrés confiants à la mi-mai de pouvoir finaliser un concept pour la légalisation du cannabis récréatif. «On a identifié de nombreuses implications, notamment en ce qui concerne les relations avec nos pays voisins», indiquait Étienne Schneider. Autre obstacle majeur : trouver une tournure juridique pour contourner les conventions internationales de l’ONU, qui interdisent la légalisation du cannabis récréatif.

Cannabis clubs - dubbed Cannabis Harm Reduction Associations - can apply to sell home-grown marijuana from next month but must abide by a list of regulations outlined on Friday. The associations are the only way to legally buy the drug, which was legalised in December 2021. They can apply for licensing from February 28 through a non-profit model set by the Authority for the Responsible Use of Cannabis (ARUC). They must be non-profit and can only sell their own product, meaning that only seeds can be imported from abroad. This means that cannabis legally sold in Malta must be grown in the country. (See also: Who came up with those new ‘cannabis rules’, anyway? Cheech and Chong?)

Cannabis associations in Malta could be up and running by the end of March 2024, sources familiar with the matter have told MaltaToday. In June, it was revealed that 26 groups had applied for cannabis association licences from the Authority for the Responsible Use of Cannabis, (ARUC) but no timeframe was yet given. The biggest hurdle surrounding the licence approval involved receiving the green light from banks in order to take out loans to be able to operate, however, sources say that this issue has been resolved. Regarding the applicants themselves, ARUC had received applications for all five types of associations, characterised by their number of members.

Two NGOs have proposed that cannabis associations should be “safe spaces” where members have a “true interest and passion” in the substance, and where they could share best practices and seek advice even about unwanted effects. The proposals are among those made by ReLeaf Malta and Moviment Graffitti in a policy document that urges a ‘social equity’ approach to Maltese cannabis associations. The document has been presented to psychotherapist Mariella Dimech as CEO of the cannabis authority. In December, Malta became the first European country to legalise the cultivation and possession of cannabis. Cannabis users can now carry up to 7g of the substance without fear of prosecution and also grow four plants at home.

Salaries paid out by cannabis associations will have to be approved by the regulator to ensure they are in line with market rates, ARUC boss Leonid McKay has said. The Authority for the Responsible Use of Cannabis CEO said that the measure would be included in a legal framework that not-for-profit associations would need to adhere to and was intended to dissuade applicants seeking to turn their associations into money-making ventures. ARUC will be assessing salaries against comparable ones within the voluntary sector and any association that tries to game the system by paying out ridiculous salaries will have its licence revoked, he said. (See also: Smoking ban at cannabis clubs should be lifted, new authority head Leonid McKay urges)

Psychotherapist Mariella Dimech has been sacked from her position as executive chairperson of the new cannabis authority on the responsible use of cannabis. Dimech said she was informed by the Home Affairs ministry that her post was being terminated with immediate effect. "Over the last 10 months, I have worked with no functional office, no staff, no budget and a political strategy and decision strategy I disagreed with," she said. She was appointed earlier this year and her term was meant to last three years. Leonid McKay, the former director of Caritas, is expected to be appointed to head the cannabis authority. Malta legalisedthe cultivation and possession of cannabis at the end of 2021, becoming the first EU country to do so. (See also: Cannabis authority head removed after 10 months, says she disagreed with political strategy)

New rules on cannabis use came into force in Malta in December after parliament approved a new law aimed at further decriminalising the substance. The new law allows for the creation of cannabis associations for those smokers who might be unwilling or unable to grow the plant at home. They can join such associations, which cultivate cannabis to distribute among members, and buy their supply from there. But, eight months since the law was introduced, the Authority on the Responsible Use of Cannabis (ARUC) has yet to start issuing licences for these clubs - or even publish regulatory guidelines which such clubs must adhere to. Authority chairperson Mariella Dimech said that the process is “delicate” and “cannot be done overnight”.

Parliament approved a cannabis law that will allow users to carry, buy and grow amounts of the drug, making Malta the first European country to introduce laws to regulate recreational cannabis use. MPs backed the Responsible Use of Cannabis bill by 36 votes to 27. All Labour MPs voted in favour of the bill while the opposition voted against it. The reform must be signed into law by President George Vella - a process that usually happens within days of parliamentary votes. Vella, a doctor by profession, has faced calls from NGOs and lobby groups that oppose the reform plans to refuse to sign the bill into law. (See also: Through the smoke: What you need to know about new cannabis rules | Malta becomes first European country to legalise recreational cannabis)

If a person is found with more than 1kg of dried cannabis or nine flowering plants they could be jailed for up to 15 years. These are just some of the “arbitrary” limits on personal cannabis possession and cultivation imposed in the new Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill. Such limits are likely to be challenged should the legislation be passed by Parliament in its present form. The Bill caps private, personal home possession of cannabis at 600g a person, or 1.2kg of dried cannabis per household. Trading in the plant carries a potential jail term of 15 years. The Bill will be tabled in Parliament during the next session and was drafted in response to a Constitutional Court judgment that upheld the right to personal, private possession and cultivation of cannabis. (See also: New bill not all that dope, say activists)