From industrial hemp production to prohibition to a string of constitutionality rulings, the history of cannabis in Canada has been a tumultuous journey with many tangents, missteps, and messy revisions to an imperfect law. Let’s take a closer look at the complex and winding road from prohibition to legalization in the True North:
1801: The Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada distributed hemp seeds to farmers in an effort to stimulate industry.
1822: The provincial parliament of Upper Canada allocated 300 pounds for machinery to process hemp and incentivize domestic hemp producers.
1917: A new machine was invented, making it easier to separate hemp fiber from the internal core, but hemp production dropped off in favor of cotton production, which was less labor intensive.
1923: Cannabis was deemed illegal in Canada in 1923, after the Narcotics Drug Act Amendment Bill introduced the Act to Prohibit the Improper Use of Opium and Other Drugs, adding cannabis, in addition to opium, cocaine and morphine.
1937: The first marijuana seizure was made by Canadian law enforcement.
1962: Cannabis gained popularity and the number of cannabis convictions escalated from 25 convictions between 1930 and 1946, to 20 cases in 1962 alone.
1968: The number of cannabis convictions jumped up to 2,300 as marijuana use increased, particularly among college students and the hippie psychedelic counterculture.
1969: The Canadian government formed the Royal Commission of Inquiry in the Non-Medical Use of Drugs, known as the Le Dain Commission, to investigate the non-medical uses of cannabis.
1971: The first pro-cannabis smoke-in was held in Vancouver’s Gastown district. Known as the Gastown Riot, or the “Battle of Maple Tree Square,” hundreds of peaceful protesters demonstrated on Water Street before being forcefully dispersed by police officers on horseback.
1972: The Le Dain Commission released a report on cannabis, recommending that the federal government remove criminal penalties for the use and possession of cannabis, although the report did not recommend legalization outright. No steps were taken to decriminalize cannabis.
1996: Terrance Parker is arrested for cannabis possession, cultivation, and trafficking after he was caught growing cannabis to control his epileptic seizures. He appealed to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Read the rest of the history until present day on Leafly.com
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