Quebec passes law to raise legal age for cannabis to 21 – Montreal

The Quebec government’s contentious cannabis legislation that will impose some of the strictest rules in Canada has been adopted by the province’s National Assembly.

Bill 2 raises the legal age to consume and purchase recreational marijuana from 18 to 21.

The change will come into effect as of January 2020.

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The proposed legislation was tabled last December shortly after the Coalition Avenir Québec won the provincial election and formed government.

The federal law legalizing cannabis consumption sets the minimum age at 18 but gives provinces the power to increase it. In all other provinces and territories, the legal age is 18 or 19.

Lionel Carmant, the junior health minister, has said in the past that he was worried about marijuana’s effects on the still-developing brains of young adults.

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Earlier this month, the Legault government promised to launch a legal challenge after a court struck down parts of its cannabis law banning citizens from growing their own recreational marijuana.

In September, a Quebec Superior Court justice ruled the province’s legislation infringed upon the jurisdiction of the federal government.

— With files from The Canadian Press