LAUSR

On 17 October Canada became the second country to legalise the possession, consumption, and licensed sale of cannabis, after Uruguay. Legalisation is a typically Canadian patchwork quilt, as each of 10 provinces and three territories has made its own arrangements for the sale and regulation of cannabis. In Ontario you may smoke it in public wherever tobacco is permitted, but in Manitoba this will incur a C$672 (£394; €449; US$515) fine. In some provinces the minimum age is 18, in others 19, and in Quebec the new government threatens to raise it to 21. In Alberta 17 private retailers have opened. In Quebec long lines formed outside 12 stores operated by a new public monopoly. In Ontario only online sales are permitted through the official Ontario Cannabis Store, but dozens of private stores will open in April. In Saskatchewan shortages of product left many stores unable to open. …