Doctors want minimum age for legal pot set at 21: CMA

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – As the federal government prepares to legalize recreational pot, Canada’s doctors are raising a new set of concerns.

A recent Canadian Medical Association (CMA) survey of 788 doctors found that over a quarter of respondents say 21 should be the minimum age for buying or having marijuana.

BC’s medical health officer Dr. Perry Kendall has been looking at the age question as part of a federal task force on marijuana issues. He says some have suggested the minimum age should be set at 25; the age at which the adolescent brain finishes development.

“I think one has to be pragmatic about this,” Kendall explains.

“If you set the age at 21, you find you have a lot of people under that age who are currently using cannabis, then you inadvertently run the risk of either criminalizing them or creating an ongoing black market.”

He adds that he’s not sure what minimum age the task force will recommend to the government in November.

The CMA survey also found that 72 percent of doctors want the government to regulate THC levels in recreational pot.

In meeting with medical professionals across the country, Kendall says the task force has heard “a desire to have not so much the levels regulated as information on the package, and maybe taxation according to the strength of the particular product.”

The association is meeting in Vancouver this week.

Legislation to legalize the sale and recreational use of marijuana is expected to be tabled in Spring 2017.

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today