Canada legalises sale and use of canabis

The first recreational cannabis to be legally bought in Canada was purchased at midnight on Wednesday (02:30 GMT) on the eastern island of Newfoundland amid queues of hundreds of people.

Canada has become the second country after Uruguay to legalise possession and use of recreational cannabis.
Medical marijuana has been legal in the country since 2001.
But concerns remain, including about the readiness for police forces to tackle drug impaired driving.
Information has been sent to 15m households about the new laws and there are public awareness campaigns.
Canadian provinces and municipalities have been preparing for months for the end of cannabis prohibition.
They are responsible for setting out where cannabis can be bought and consumed.
This has created a patchwork of more or less restrictive legislation across the country.
On Monday, the Canadian Medical Association Journal published an editorial calling legalisation “a national, uncontrolled experiment in which the profits of cannabis producers and tax revenues are squarely pitched against the health of Canadians”.
There are also still some legal wrinkles to be worked out.
Canada has brought in new drug impaired driving offences, but doubts remain about the reliability of screening technology and the potential for drugged driving cases to clog up the courts.
Federal statistics indicate that about half of all cannabis users do not believe their driving is impaired after taking marijuana.
Government officials told reporters on Tuesday that they are currently considering a fast-track process to allow people who have been convicted of possession to apply for legal pardons. There are currently some 500,000 Canadians with existing criminal records for possession.
The change in national drug policy has also created headaches with the US, where the drug remains federally a controlled substance.
On Tuesday, the US Customs Border Protection Agency said border guards will have “broad latitude” to determine who is admissible to the country.
Border guards may ask Canadians if they smoke cannabis, and deny them entry if they believe they intend to do so in the US.
Canada has also been rolling out signs at all airports and border crossings to warn travellers that crossing international borders with the drug remains illegal.