Archive for month: October, 2015

Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party Supports Drug Policy Reform, including Marijuana Legalization and Cutting Edge Harm Reduction Policies

Monday night, Canada voted in Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party in a general election, which will have outstanding implications for drug policy reform in the country. The election puts an end to Conservative Party Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s 9-year rule, which was marked by a repressive approach to drugs, including a commitment to rolling out mandatory minimum sentences, pushback to effective supervised injection sites that reduce the harms of drug use, and strong opposition to marijuana reform. In contrast, the Liberal Party has promised to legalize and regulate marijuana and Trudeau has expressed support for harm reduction and the expansion of…

Led by Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Liberal Party swept to a strong victory in Monday’s elections.

While results were still being tallied Monday night, it looks as if the party has won enough seats to form a majority government by itself. At press time, the Liberals had won 156 six seats in the lower house of parliament and were leading in 34 more. They only need 170 seats to form a majority in the 338-seat lower chamber.

The Liberal platform included, among other things, marijuana legalization:

“We will legalize, regulate, and restrict access to marijuana,” the platform states. Marijuana prohibition doesn’t prevent youth use, causes socially disruptive and expensive arrests, and supports organized crime, the statement adds. “We will remove marijuana consumption and incidental…