Alberta Plans To Set A Minimum Age Of 18 For Legalized Weed

The province will also make some public consumption legal.

Alberta plans to set ​the minimum age to buy and use weed in the province at 18 when it is legalized next year.

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Alberta's minimum age for alcohol and tobacco is also 18. At a Wednesday press conference announcing the province's cannabis strategy, Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley said the goal was to make sure young people could access safe products without going to the black market.

"We are not encouraging use at 18, but that is generally the age at which we allow people to make adult decisions," Ganley said.

The Alberta Cannabis Framework is open to public input until Oct. 27, and the government plans to introduce legislation in the winter. The federal government's deadline for legalization is July 1, 2018.

David Zalubowski / AP

Under Alberta's proposed framework, adults will be able to publicly possess up to 30 grams of cannabis and grow up to four plants in their homes. Smoking or vaping will be allowed in some public places, as long as smoking tobacco is already allowed and it's not near kids.

Ontario, the first province to announce its pot plan in September, will ban all public consumption of cannabis.

Alberta is still weighing how to sell weed. All cannabis will be sold at specialty stores that don't also sell alcohol, tobacco, or pharmaceuticals. But whether they will be government-run stores like in Ontario's proposal or licensed private retailers hasn't been decided.

"We’re open to all options," Ganley said.

Online sales will not be available immediately in Alberta, but could be added later.

Here's the video the government of Alberta released outlining its legalization plans.

YourAlberta / YouTube / Via youtube.com

CORRECTION

Oct. 04, 2017, at 20:38 PM

The federal government’s deadline for marijuana legalization is July 1, 2018. This date was misstated in a previous version of this story.